New Delhi: A
decision on Telangana may be delayed with the Congress today seeking to buy
more time to resolve the vexed issue despite the 28 January deadline set by the
Centre to decide the matter.
An indication to this effect was given by AICC General
Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad after a fresh round of consultations Sonia Gandhi had
with senior party leaders on the contentious issue.
Besides Azad, who is General Secretary in
charge of party affairs in Andhra Pradesh, the meeting was attended by Home
Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi and
Ahmed Patel, Political Secretary to the Congress chief.
“I don’t think one month …..(deadline should be
taken so literally). When one says tomorrow, it does not mean tomorrow morning.
When one says one week, sometimes it is two weeks”, Azad said when told that
the Centre’s one-month deadline on Telangana issue is fast approaching.
Declining to set any deadline, he said what
is important is that the Congress high command is making serious efforts so as
to resolve the issue as early as possible. The Home Minister had said on
28 December that the Centre would take the decision on the issue within a
month.
Azad’s statement came amid hectic
consultations at the highest levels in government amid speculation over various
options to resolve the tangle. Among the various ideas, one is said to be the
creation of a territorial administration on the lines of Bodoland and
Gorkhaland for the backward region.
Two separate delegations from
Telangana and outside Telangana regions met several central leaders, including
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, yesterday articulating their views on the
sensitive issue but got no assurance from anyone.
A delegation of five Ministers and 18 MLAs from Telangana region met
Shinde separately yesterday and told him that nothing short of a separate state
would be acceptable for them.
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