New Delhi: Congress President Sonia Gandhi today discussed the vexed Telangana issue with top party leaders amid indications that there may be further delay in its resolution despite the month-end deadline set by the Centre.
“Consultations are still on and will continue,” party spokesperson Renuka Chowdhary said when asked whether the party had taken any decision on the issue as the January 28 deadline was inching closer.
“No decision yet” was the refrain of a top leader after Gandhi held deliberations over the issue with Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, AICC general secretaries Digvijay Singh and Ghulam Nabi Azad and Union Minister Vaylar Ravi.
An indication that a decision on Telangana may be delayed was given by Azad, the AICC in-charge for Andhra Pradesh, yesterday itself after a fresh round of consultations Sonia Gandhi had with these leaders on the contentious issue.
“I don’t think one month (deadline should be taken so literally).... When one says tomorrow, it does not mean tomorrow morning. When one says one week, sometimes it is two weeks,” Azad had said when told that the Centre’s one-month deadline on Telangana issue is fast approaching.
Declining to set any deadline, he had said what was important was that the Congress high command was making serious efforts to resolve the issue as early as possible.
Azad’s statement had come amid hectic consultations at the highest levels in government and speculation over various options to resolve the tangle.
Among the various ideas, one is said to be the creation of a territorial administration on the lines of Bodoland and Gorkhaland for the backward region.