Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Thursday announced the setting up of a committee to go into the Telangana issue.
“We are almost at the end of concluding that exercise. If all goes well, we should have a committee by the end of this week. We will announce the committee by next week,” Mr. Chidambaram told reporters.
A senior Union Minister told The Hindu that the committee could be headed by a former Supreme Court judge and its terms of reference was being finalised.
Though pro-Telangana leaders are demanding that the panel should complete its work within six months, it is learnt that it might be given up to one year to hold consultations with various stakeholders.
Mr. Chidambaram said, “My greatest regret is that a couple of students reportedly committed suicide. That, I think, should have been completely avoided. Why should children commit suicide?” Parents and teachers have the responsibility to stop this. Keeping that apart, by and large, things are peaceful there. There is no major law and order violation. We are sticking to our words.”