Congress in a bind over T-promise

The UPA government’s announcement that a decision on Telangana statehood demand will be taken within a month has further complicated the matters for the Congress leadership, which is already facing a tough task of keeping its flock together in Andhra Pradesh.

The UPA government’s announcement that a decision on Telangana statehood demand will be taken within a month has further complicated the matters for the Congress leadership, which is already facing a tough task of keeping its flock together in Andhra Pradesh.

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An influential section in the party is of the view that at Friday's all-party meeting, home minister Sushilkumar Shinde should not have given a commitment to resolve the crisis within a month. “Instead he should have worded the government's response by saying that it will come up with a solution to Telangana within a reasonable timeframe,” a senior leader said. “We are stuck between a rock and a hard place now. Bifurcating Andhra Pradesh at this stage will stir a hornet’s nest across the country,” he said.

But there have been several suggestions from within the party to settle the matter amicably. It is learnt that Andhra Pradesh chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and a powerful section within the party were in favour of setting up a second states reorganization commission (SRC) to address various demands coming from different parts of the country.