In what could be music to the ears of those fighting for a separate state of Telangana, the Congress on Monday declared that it was not opposed to the creation of smaller states, but added that a decision on Telangana would be taken after the submission of the Srikrishna Committee report.
The party has also outrightly rejected the overtures of K. Chandrasekar Rao (KCR), who has offered to merge his party — the Telangana Rashtriya Samithi (TRS) — with the Congress if a separate Telangana state is formed.
Party spokesperson in New Delhi, Mr Shakeel Ahmed said that his party was not opposed to smaller states. “We are not against smaller states,” said Mr Shakeel Ahmed.
When asked if the party favoured the creation of Telangana, Mr Ahmed said that a decision on Telengana would be taken after Justice Srikrishna submits his report. Mr Shakeel Ahmed. added, “The government will decide on Telangana after the submission of Srikrishna committee report.”
Mr Ahmed was dismissive, when specifically asked about the offer of KCR that he was willing to merge his party with the Congress if it was willing to concede the demand for a separate state of Telangana.
He said, “He is playing politics. He is resorting to all this for political purposes. He is trying to derive political advantage out of this.”
Virtually rejecting KCR’s offer, Mr Ahmed said, “We don’t endorse his statement.”
Refusing to take further questions on the issue of Telangana, he asked the mediapersons to direct all their queries on the subject to the party in-charge for Andhra Pradesh Veerappa Moily. Congress MPs from Telangana region, who began an indefinite hungerstrike in Hyderabad on Monday morning demanding the withdrawal of cases against students, had their way.
The government has, since then, withdrawn another 135 cases against the students of Osmania University. Cases were registered against students when they resorted to violence during last year’s agitation demanding a separate state.