Even as the Congress has decided to tread carefully on the Telangana issue before venturing to give its opinion, the Opposition parties at the national level are clearly a divided house over the controversial issue.
While the BJP charged the Centre of unnecessarily delaying the formation of a separate Telangana state, the CPI(M) called on the government to maintain the status quo and come to a quick conclusion.
Union law minister and party in-charge for Andhra Pradesh, M. Veerappa Moily told reporters, “The report is open, transparent and very objective. They have given a lot of options. We cannot shut our eyes on that. It is for the parties concerned to deliberate on that.”
According to sources, the Congress will wait for the outcome of the second meeting, home minister P. Chidambaram is all set to have with political parties by the end of this month before revealing its mind on the issue.
BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said, “The Congress-led government is acting in an irresponsible and childish manner. The Srikrishna Commission report shows that they deliberately want to delay the issue. We want Telangana at the earliest. Any delay in the matter will not be in the interest of the people of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.”
Calling on the Congress to learn from the BJP, Mr Hussain said that his party can boast of having acquired the expertise when it comes to the formation of small states. He referred to the creation of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand during the NDA rule. Mr Hussain said, “The Congress can seek advice from us on how to form new states.”
Mr B.V. Raghavulu of the CPI(M) from Andhra opined that discussions anymore will not be of any use.
He said, “We want status quo to be maintained and urge the Centre to come out with a solution. Such discussions would be of no use. We hope in the next meeting, the Centre comes out with some solution.”
Echoing the views of Mr Raghavulu, senior leader Sitaram Yechury in the national capital said, “We and other parties have given our views on Telangana repeatedly. Now we want the government to do what it wants to do. The stage of political parties giving their views is long over.”