Centre wary of red terror in ‘T’: Shinde

[1]

The Union home minister, Mr Sushilkumar Shinde, on Monday said that the Centre would not make any announcement on Telangana without considering the Naxal problem. Stating that reports had indicated that “creation of smaller states had seen the spread of Naxalism”, the minister said that with Naxal activities on the rise in smaller states like Chhattisgarh, the Centre was bound to consider the Naxal issue before taking a decision on Telangana.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi on Monday, Mr Shinde, who as the home minister, deals with the formation of new states under Article 3 of statute, said that many delegations from AP had met him recently to place their views on the Telangana issue. “I have heard them carefully. It is a long pending issue. There are different opinions and we have to see all of them. We have to deal carefully,” he said.

Reacting to TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s statement that the Centre would be announcing a Telangana state before September end, Mr Shinde said it was quite common for leaders taking up agitations to talk like that. “We will take a decision before 2014 elections, that is certain,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Rao who has been camping in Delhi, met the Union minister, Mr Vayalar Ravi, on Monday. Mr Ravi said that he discussed the Telangana issue with Mr Rao and refused to give more details.

HM: no decision yet on all-party meet
Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde said that he needed more time to study the Telangana statehood issue as he had taken up the responsibilities of ministry recently. "I am new to this ministry, let me get the full details of the issue," he added. When asked about the Centre convening an all party conference to arrive at a consensus on the Telangana issue, the home minister said: “It is not possible in the immediate future, it will take some more time.” Union minister and AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad had told this newspaper on Sunday that there was no consensus on the Telangana issue and as such there could not be a deadline or time limit for the Centre to announce a decision in this regard.