Cong's Telangana announcement in early August?

The Congress has almost decided to accept the demand for a separate state of Telangana but is still to work out the nitty-gritty of Andhra Pradesh’s bifurcation.

The Congress core committee discussed the long pending demand for Telangana at its meeting on Friday but it was officially announced later that this matter had been referred to the Congress Working Committee.

While it is being stated that the issue had been sent to the CWC for wider consultations, the party’s highest decision-making body will be called essentially to endorse this decision.

The timing of the formal announcement has not been finalised but there are indications that it may happen in early August, well before the monsoon session of Parliament which has been pushed back to the third week of the next month. The Congress will also hold prior consultations with is allies before making any announcement.

The core committee meeting, headed by party president Sonia Gandhi, is learnt to have discussed the ramifications of bifurcating the state and how the handling of the fall-out of such decision.

The core committee, which was attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other senior party leaders, heard out Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarsimha and Pradesh Congress Committee chief Botcha Satyanarayana on the possible strategy which could be adopted in case if Telangana is granted and if the state is not bifurcated.

While the chief minister argued in favour of a united Andhra Pradesh, the PCC chief, who is from Telangana, maintained that nothing short of a separate state would be acceptable to the people of the region.

Having delayed a decision on this emotive issue, the Congress has no option but take a final call on Telangana as the Lok Sabha and the state assembly elections are due next year.

The Congress leadership’s decision to grant Telangana is also driven by its assessment that the party would be wiped out in Andhra Pradesh from where it had won 33 Lok Sabha seats in the 2009 elections.

The Congress is losing ground in Telangana because of the strong public sentiment in favour of a separate state while it is being pushed to the margins by the Jaganmohan Reddy-led YSR Congress in the Rayalseema and coastal regions.

It is being argued that the party can improve its tally in the Telangana region which has 18 Lok Sabha seats as it would fare poorly in other regions. The party was hoping to retrieve the situation by forging a partnership with Jaganmohan Reddy, but so far this does not appear on the anvil.

Image: A Telangana supporter protests during a demonstration in Hyderabad

Photograph: Reuters