Panel to take more time

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Hyderabad: A delegation of Seemandhra Congress leaders comprising Union ministers and MPs was given an assurance by members of the A.K. Antony Panel in New Delhi on Wednesday that the formation of the Telangana state would not go ahead till the concerns of the Seemandhra region were addressed.
The Seemandhra delegation comprising Union ministers Kavuri Sambasiva Rao, Chiranjeevi, Panabaka Laxmi, Killi Kriparani, Kotla Surya Prakash Reddy and J.D. Seelam, MPs Undavalli Arun Kumar, Lagadapati Rajagopal, K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao, G.V. Harsha Kumar and A. Sai Pratap and state minister for school education Dr S. Sailajanath on Wednesday met Union petroleum minister and member of the four-member Antony panel Veerappa Moily. They also met Ahmed Patel.
The purpose of the delegation, which will meet AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh on Thursday and will seek appointments with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi, is to stall the Telangana process till their concerns are addressed.
Briefing newsmen in New Delhi on behalf of the delegation, senior MP Anantha Venkatarami Reddy said Moily had assured them that the Union government would not go ahead with the state’s bifurcation till the issues raised by Seemandhra leaders were addressed.
“We are confident that nothing will move on the Telangana front till all the issues are sorted out. Moily told us that nothing would be done till a consensus was reached on the issue,” said the Anantapur MP.
The delegation brought to the Committee’s notice that all Congress public representatives were hounded by the people whenever they visited areas in the Seemandhra region.
Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet meeting that was scheduled to be held on Thursday has been postponed by a day. Suspense continues on the T-front regarding the Cabinet note on Telangana as there has been no follow-up by the Union government even 50 days after the recommendation of the Congress Working Committee to create a Telangana state.