Topping the list of issues discussed by the Congress Core Group late on Friday evening was the ambitious and contentious Food Security Bill.
The consensus was that Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath and MoS for food K.V. Thomas would reach out to the Opposition parties and see whether they would agree either to a special session of Parliament or to advance the monsoon session to debate and pass the Bill.
This came a day after the Union Cabinet decided to abandon the ordinance route for the moment, following opposition not just from Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to this method, but also from the Samajwadi Party that extends support to the UPA from the outside.
During the 90-minute-long meeting at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence, Friday’s gherao in Hyderabad of the State Assembly building by pro-Telangana protestors was reviewed.
It was once again reiterated that the government should wait till the current session of the Assembly concludes to take a view on whether or not to grant statehood to Telangana.
Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is also the Congress general secretary in-charge of the State, was at the meeting to brief the Core Group members on the subject.
For the Congress, it is a question of weighing the advantages of creating Telangana — and reaping a possible electoral dividend in the region — against the possible fallout in other areas of the country, where there is a demand for statehood. Of greatest concerns are the demands from the border areas of Gorkhaland and Bodoland, that could have security implications.
