CELEBRITY HUB

Dec 10, 2009

Process to form Telangana to be initiated: Govt


HYDERABAD/NEW DELHI The process of forming the state of Telangana will be initiated shortly, home minister P Chidambaram has said.

Chidambaram said the Centre has requested the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah to withdraw cases against leaders, students and those associated with the separate Telangana agitation.

Pushed to the corner by a fasting TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, the Congress
tonight is understood to be in favour of a resolution in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly for creation of a separate Telangana state in a bid to defuse the current volatile situation.

Earlier, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi held two rounds of discussions in the Congress Core Group on the TRS chief's fast-unto-death that entered 11th day today and his health developed protein malfunction.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah rushed to New Delhi and held discussions with Gandhi and senior Central Ministers followed by a meeting with the Prime Minister and his senior colleagues.

After the nearly one-hour long meeting at the Prime Minister's residence that was also attended by Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram, A K Antony and Veerappa Moily, the Chief Minister left straight to the airport to take a special aircraft back to Hyderabad.

Rosaiah is expected to go straight to the Nizam Institute of Medical Sciences to convey to Rao of the move of the Congress to table a resolution in the State Assembly and to appeal to him to withdraw the fast.

There was no official word on the outcome of the meetings, but sources indicated that the Congress party wanted to defuse the situation which may take a turn for the worse if Rao continued with the agitation.

The Congress move also comes on the back of a strong demand from 15 party MPs belonging to Telangana region who met Gandhi and demanded creation of Telangana state.

Earlier, Rosaiah told reporters that it was for the Centre to take a decision-- whether amalgamation or bifurcation --factoring in all issues.

With the fast entering 11th day, 55-year-old Chandrasekhara Rao's health developed protein malfunction after he refused even intravenous fluids. But in the afternoon doctors said there was a "marginal improvement" in his condition after he agreed to have intravenous fluids and to be put on saline drips.

Tension mounted in the state capital and Telangana region ahead of the "march to Hyderabad" which resembled a fortress as additional police forces were deployed and hundreds of activists were rounded up to prevent any protests.

0 Comments: