Azad says no move on Telangana without 'full consensus'

Congress general secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday ruled out any moves on the Telangana issue until there was “full consensus” among political parties from across the State, warning that without a unanimous resolution being passed in the State assembly the issue “cannot move an inch”.

“The tempers are very high, the sentiments are very deep in the Telangana region, but at the same time the people of Seemandhra and Rayalseema are opposing tooth and nail [the moves to create a new State],” he said, adding that without the “full consensus and full cooperation” of legislators from both regions, a resolution will not be able to be passed.

With renewed pressure on the United Progressive Alliance government following the resignation of legislators, including from the Congress party, and fresh protests expected in coming days, Mr. Azad called for wider consultations to reach a consensus.

“The most important thing is while we have the sympathy for sentiments of people of Telangana… but at the same time, for a division of any state, you need to have a total consensus,” Mr. Azad, who is the Union Health Minister, told reporters here, during a visit to attend the first health ministers’ meeting of the BRICS countries.

On the resignation of Congress legislators, Mr. Azad said he had stressed during two-day discussions with representatives that legislators of all three regions of the State, as well as representatives of the Congress party and other national political parties, had to be taken into confidence.

“Unless we do that exercise, and have that unanimity, it will be very difficult for the federal government to take such a decision,” he said, pointing to earlier divisions of States, in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, where there was “total consensus from all political parties and assemblies passed a resolution.”

Mr. Azad said part of the difficulty in reaching consensus attributed to the lack of a “concrete solution” from the B.N. Srikrishna Committee, which submitted its report on Telangana six months ago.

“We were under the impression that the Srikrishna Committee will give at least one concrete solution,” he said. “But the Srikrishna Committee has given us six options. Six options is no solution…So we have to again start from zero.”