The Congress stepped up efforts to calm the frayed nerves of both pro and anti-Telangana leaders of its own stable, assuring that an amicable solution would soon be evolved.
After Home Minister P. Chidambaram’s late night announcement last week, promising the creation of a separate Telangana state, politics in Andhra had been divided across party lines.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reportedly told Congress MPs from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema on Wednesday that the priority was to restore calm.
The MPs also met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. “The Prime Minister sought our cooperation in bringing calm in Andhra Pradesh,”
Rajya Sabha member T. Subbarami Reddy said after the meeting.
The party is contemplating another statement to address the grievances of the Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema people, who are opposing the division of the state.
“Mukherjee assured us that a decision on Telangana
would be taken at appropriate levels,” Rajaiah Siricilla, Congress MP from Warangal, told Hindustan Times after the meeting.
However, the Telangana issue did not come up for discussion at the PM’s dinner for the MPs belonging to the Congress and the United Progressive Alliance partners.
“We had good food… that’s all,” said a representative of a UPA ally.
{{/usCountry}}“We had good food… that’s all,” said a representative of a UPA ally.
{{/usCountry}}Congress president Sonia Gandhi, general secretary Rahul Gandhi, Nationalist Congress Party boss Sharad Pawar, Samajwadi Party leaders Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad and National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah were among the invitees.