PM meets Cong leaders, TRS chief

With the agitation for a separate Telangana state escalating, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday met Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K Chandrashekar Rao and a delegation of Congress MPs and legislators from the region to defuse the crisis.

With the agitation for a separate Telangana state escalating, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday met Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K Chandrashekar Rao and a delegation of Congress MPs and legislators from the region to defuse the crisis.

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In his separate meetings with Rao and the Congress delegation, Singh told them that he understood their demand and assured them that the Centre will make all efforts to find a solution to the contentious issue.

The PM also told them that he would talk to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and put all their demands before the party's core group.

On his part, Rao briefed Singh about the situation in Telangana region where a general strike has crippled life for the past 22 days, and demanded immediate steps for the formation of a separate state.

Rao, who has been camping here for the past few days, met Singh along with a huge delegation consisting members from his party and the Hyderabad-based Telangana joint action panel, which is spearheading the movement for a separate state. On Sunday, he had staged a sit-in protest at Rajghat in support of his demand.

Sources said the Congress will soon formulate its stand on the issue as Andhra Pradesh in-charge and union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has already submitted a report on his detailed consultations with party leaders from all the three regions of the state — coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema and Telangana.