Home Minister P Chidambaram has assured Telangana Rastriya Samiti chief K Chandrashekhar Rao that all steps will be taken to create a separate state, but sought some time to act on the issue.
During the meeting, the violent agitations going on in Andhra Pradesh in support of the Telangana movement were discussed, and the home minister told Rao that a new state cannot be carved out in the backdrop of such violence.
Rao retorted that the violent protests in Andhra and Rayalseema were caused mainly by some leaders and the people of those regions were not opposed to the creation of Telangana.
TRS leaders believe that the meeting with the home minister was in the right direction. "In our view, the process (for the creation of Telangana) has already commenced and the home minister has assured our leader that our demands will be taken into consideration," said a party leader.
The TRS will now urge the Centre to set a time-frame to resolve the issue. Chidambaram has suggested setting up a committee, headed by a senior bureaucrat, to consider the various view points on the creation of Telangana.
But according to the TRS, setting up such a committee is an unnecessary exercise, and the state should be formed based on the collective demand of the people of Telangana.