Cong core group may discuss Telangana on Friday

The issue of constituting a mechanism for the wide ranging consultations promised by the Centre on Telangana is expected to come up on Friday at a meeting of the Congress core group headed by party president Sonia Gandhi.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his senior Cabinet colleagues Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister A K Antony and Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel are also expected to attend the meeting.

Telangana Rashtra Samithi president K Chandrasekhar Rao, who is spearheading the movement for separate Telangana, met Antony on Thursday and discussed the issue.

The core group is expected to take stock of the deliberations of the meeting convened by Chidambaram on Tuesday of leaders of eight recognised political parties of Andhra Pradesh and separate meetings he has had in the last two days with leaders of the state. Sources said the Congress and the government headed by it have to decide on the next course of action on how to go about on the Telangana issue.

The Tuesday meeting had as its agenda the mechanism and the road map for consultations and the core group will be briefed on its discussions by Chidambaram.

The party and the government are said to be weighing various pros and cons on the mechanism and the implications it would have on the dialogue process.

The Congress is also conscious of the fact that the party leaders were expressing their views independently on regional lines and is said to be looking for someone who would toe its lines unquestioningly. Sources said the government was of the view that the Telangana as an idea can no longer be brushed aside and the "tipping point" could be reached within two-three months.

Leaders of various parties from Andhra Pradesh on Thursday met Chidambaram and held discussions on the Telangana issue, triggering expectations that government may come out with a statement in the next few days.

After their meetings, leaders of these parties claimed that the home minister promised them he would brief the prime minister on these discussions and then may come out with government's position on next course of action.

A day after actor-turned politician and Praja Rajyam Party chief Chiranjeevi met Chidambaram, two Members of Legislative Assembly of his party from Telangana called on the minister to tell him they wanted immediate steps for creation of a separate state. MLA Maheswar Reddy said Chiranjeevi took a "unilateral" decision by deviating from party election manifesto, which had supported a separate Telangana.

A delegation of Congress legislators, including seven Members of Parliament, from Telangana met the home minister and demanded "time-bound action" for creation of Telangana.

MP M Jaganatham said the 30-member delegation, including four Andhra Pradesh ministers from Telangana region, assured Chidambaram that they would help the authorities in bringing peace and that their agitation would not hamper the normal activities of common people.