Sonia Gandhi clears Telangana division, final decision awaited

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New Delhi: Congress tonight gave clear signals about moving close to formation of Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh, saying the consultation process is over and a decision should be awaited.
Congress leaders Digvijay Singh and Ghulam Nabi Azad have conveyed to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, PCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana and Dy Chief Minister Damodar Raja Narasimha that the Congress intends to divide the state.
Singh said time has come to announce a decision as the process of consultations are over.
However, there is no clarity yet whether it will be Telangana and Seemandhra or Rayala Telangana and Rayala Andhra. Similarly there is also no clarity on the status of Hyderabad.
Stunned by the party decision, several Seemandhra ministers and MPs including Union ministers decided to dash off letters to Congress president Sonia Gandhi of their intention to resign. Before returning to the state, Kiran Kumar Reddy met Gandhi.
The indications came after a two-hour Congress Core Group meeting, chaired by Sonia Gandhi and attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other senior leaders. The meeting capped a day of hectic deliberations involving party leaders and Andhra Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy.
However analysts say that Digvijay Singh's statement has to be read between the lines wherein he named UPA-Government.
the decision on formation of Telangana may take more time than expected as the Congress party has brought-in the factor of constituents of United Progressive Alliance to take a final call on the issue.
"The consultation process is over. Now await the decision of the party as well as UPA government," AICC in-charge of Andhra Pradesh Digvijay Singh told reporters.
Singh said that the deliberations on Telangana issue were over and now it would be up to the UPA-Government to take a decision.
Although Digvijay Singh clarified that the Congress has taken its stand on the statehood issue, but it left the final decision to the outcome of opinion to be given by UPA Constituents. Therefore, it now appears that the final decision on Telangana would be taken in the meeting of UPA and not during the Congress Working Committee.
He tried to convey that the Congress party has made up its mind on the stand to be taken on Telangana issue. However, the decision to accept or reject the demand for formation of Telangana State would be taken by the UPA constituents.
Meanwhile, sources have indicated that the Congress High Command was in favour of Telangana and the same has been conveyed to Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and other senior leaders. The High Command has also ignored the representations made by Seemandhra ministers who are camping in New Delhi.
The Core Group meeting was attended by ministers A K Antony, P Chidambaram, Sushilkumar Shinde and Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Earlier, Digvijay Singh held three-hour long discussions with various leaders of Andhra Pradesh, including the Chief Minister.
Sources said in their separate meetings, the Chief Minister, state Congress chief and the deputy Chief Minister have made detailed presentations Digvijay Singh. After that he said, "The process of consultation is over. And the time to take a decision has come... We will let you know the decision."
PCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana and Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha were among those with whom Singh held consultations today at the Congress 'War Room' here.
Leaders belonging to both pro and anti-Telangana factions are in the capital to build pressure on the central leadership.
Recently Singh had submitted a report on the issue to Congress President Sonia Gandhi. The Congress Core Group had discussed the Telangana issue earlier this month and decided to refer the long-pending matter to the Congress Working Committee for a final view. Amid talk that Congress leadership may take a decision in favour of separate Telangana, a ruling Congress MLA and two YSR Congress legislators from non-Telangana regions said in Hyderabad yesterday that they have "resigned" from their posts in support of the united Andhra Pradesh cause.