Even as the state Congress troika--chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, his deputy C Damodara Rajanarasimha and PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana--are bracing for Friday’s crucial meeting of their party core committee, armed with their respective road maps to untangle the Telangana tangle, signals emanating from Delhi indicate that the AICC high command has already finalised its decision on the issue, positively in favour of T-state.
According to sources, the AICC leadership has more or less decided to bifurcate the state.
Highly placed sources in the ruling party divulged that the Congress high command has already prepared a blueprint for solving the long-pending T-issue in an amicable manner, acceptable to people and politicos from both regions of the state.
The Congress high command is reportedly considering two options--one is Rayala Telangana state by clubbing Anantapur and Kurnool districts with Telangana and another one is bifurcating Andhra Pradesh into Seemandhra and Telangana states by making Hyderabad a Union territory and keeping it combined capital for both states for some period.
A Congress veteran said the AICC leadership is in favour of clubbing two districts of Rayalaseema with Andhra and the remaining two with Telangana so as to have equal Lok Sabha seats (21 each) in both states for the benefit of the Congress in the ensuing general polls.
The state Congress senior, who has been in touch with his Delhi bosses, said on Thursday that their party leadership had already taken a final call on the T-issue in this manner.
Hence, the meeting of the Congress core committee, slated for Friday, is a perfunctory one, only to create an impression that the AICC top brass has also consulted state Congress leaders Kiran Reddy, Rajanarasimha and Botcha Satyanarayana before finalising the decision, he said.
Even the latest remarks of AICC state affairs incharge Digvijaya Singh on the T-issue, made on Thursday evening, also strengthen the opinion that the Congress high commnad had already finalised its decision on the T-issue.
After 15 days
The senior Congress leader, who had taken part in key meetings of the AICC on the T-issue, however, said his party leadership might not announce its decision immediately after the core committee meeting on Friday.
“Our party leadership wants to convince all the top leaders from both the regions. Hence, the AICC high command might announce its decision only after 15 to 20 days,” a senior Congress leader said.
Meanwhile, all eyes are on the Congress high command to see how they resolve the issue.