Centre sure of full attendance
The government on Tuesday said that it was confident that all the eight political parties invited to attend the meeting on Telangana from Andhra Pradesh would do so on January 6.
Home minister P. Chidambaram told reporters in the capital, “We have invited eight parties for the meeting and I am confident that all the eight parties will attend it.”
This view of the home minister was expressed in the backdrop of the stand taken by the BJP and the Telangan Rashtra Samiti (TRS) not to attend the meeting protesting against the invitation extended to two representatives of each party. They contend that the Centre was deliberately inviting two representatives just to elicit different views on the subject, as the parties invariably send one representative from Telangana and the other from Seema Andhra.
When Mr Chidambaram was asked about the TRS and the BJP staying away from the meeting, he said, the Centre was merely following the pattern of January 5, 2010 talks on the Telangana controversy. He said, “So, following the same pattern we have asked parties to send two representatives. But it is open to a party to send one representative.”
Seeking to differ with the assessment of the TRS and the BJP, Mr Chidambaram said, “For example (on January 5, 2010 meeting) CPI, CPI(M), BJP, TRS and MIM all expressed one view and I don’t think that is an issue and I sincerely hope that the TRS will participate in the January 6 meeting. They may either send one or two people. It is entirely up to them.”
To a question on whether the government felt embarrassed over the decision of the BJP and the TRS, Mr Chidambaram said, “We will wait to see what will happen on January 6.”
Thursday’s meeting is being convened by Mr Chidambaram to hand over the reports to the political parties and decide on the date for the next meeting to discuss the issue. The Srikrishna Commission had submitted the report on Telangana on December 30 2010.
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