Congress internal report focuses on possible violence, negotiation
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Congress Andhra Pradesh in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and submitted the report on the controversial Telangana statehood issue. The Congress core committee then discussed the issue but the deliberations remained inconclusive.
According to sources, the report itself is inconclusive, but it has expressed apprehension of violence in certain areas if the demands of the respective regions are not met.
Sources added that the Congress may depute a small group of leaders to visit Andhra Pradesh and submit a ground report, after which the home ministry may call an all-party meet to discuss the issue.
Azad is understood to have briefed Gandhi during their meeting about the on-going agitation in the Telangana region. In the run-up to preparing the report, Azad had extensive discussions with legislators of all three regions, who even made power-point presentations to explain their points of view.
Union home minister P. Chidambaram, meanwhile, called on all political parties to make up their minds quickly on the contentious issue, a decision that will enable him to convene an all-party meeting even as Telangana Rashtra Samiti leader K. Chandrasekhar Rao declared that the strike in Telangana would continue until statehood was granted.
Meanwhile, in an attempt to build further pressure on political parties, Congress MPs from Telangana have decided to write to Chidambaram urging him to fix a cut-off date for parties to take a stand on the matter, failing which their views on the issue prior to the December 9, 2009 statement should be construed as the official stand of the concerned parties.
Chidambaram, when asked about the prospective all-party meet, said four parties of Andhra Pradesh are yet to take a stand.
"The Telugu Desam and the MIM are waiting to see what the Congress party's decision will be. The other party, the YSR Congress, has not indicated its mind either," he said, adding, "I think one important stage of the consultation appears to be over today. I hope the parties will make up their minds quickly, as I appealed in Parliament, to enable me to call an all-party meeting."
Chidambaram also called on agitators in Telangana region to call off their strike as they have now 'made their point'.
"My appeal is that while the protesters certainly made their point, continuation of any strike cripples economic activity and enormously inconveniences the people. So, whoever is in the government can only appeal to protesters that, having made their point, to not continue these protests."
But Chandrasekhar Rao, who landed in the national capital late on Friday evening, said, "The strike in Telangana will continue until the goal of Telangana is achieved."
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