The Telangana Rashtra Samiti on Wednesday rejected a fresh appeal from Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram to attend Thursday’s meeting of political parties on the Srikrishna report on Telangana, as Andhra Pradesh waited with bated breath to know its “roadmap” on the Statehood issue.
Security has been tightened across Andhra Pradesh to ward off any trouble since violence had erupted last year in the Telangana region after the Centre decided to hold wide-ranging consultations with all stakeholders on the Statehood demand.
Amid a boycott by the TRS and the Bharatiya Janata Party, Mr. Chidambaram will meet leaders of political parties from Andhra Pradesh in the national capital and present the contents of the Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee report on the statehood issue after which it will be made public.
The meeting of eight recognised political parties in the State — the Congress, the Telugu Desam Party, the Praja Rajyam Party, the TRS, the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the BJP — was convened for discussions after the Committee, that went into the demands for a separate Telangana State and keeping Andhra Pradesh united, submitted its 800-page voluminous report to the Centre.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy met Congress President Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi and is understood to have discussed the political situation in the State and the security arrangements.
The issue of Congress MPs and MLAs threatening to resign from their posts if the committee did not recommend a separate Telangana state is also believed to have come up for discussion.
However, there was no official word on what transpired at the meeting.
Meanwhile, the Congress High Command has summoned all party MPs from Telangana to the capital on Wednesday for consultations.
The MPs accompanied by PCC chief D. Srinivas are expected to meet Finance Minister and senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee. The MPs may also meet other senior leaders of the party on Wedbesday and Thursday.
In Hyderabad, TRS sources said the party was staying away since Mr. Chidambaram had not responded to the objections raised by the party.
“Chidambaram has sent a second letter. He did not answer our objections that one party should not give divergent views. In the letter, he (Chidamabaram) said five parties had expressed a single opinion in a similar meeting held in January last year. But the moot point is that three parties gave divergent views.
“The Centre is deliberately encouraging the parties to give divergent views by inviting two representatives from each party,” the sources said.
TRS is also demanding that the Centre introduce a Bill in the Budget Session of Parliament for formation of a separate Telangana, irrespective of the recommendations of the Srikrishna committee.
