Dr Singh holds high-level meeting on Telangana

With the Justice B N Srikrishna Committee set to submit its report on Telangana on Friday, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Wednesday discussed the sensitive issue with top ministers and senior officials.

The meeting was attended by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister A K Antony and Law Minister M Veerappa Moily, besides senior PMO officials, sources said. The meeting assumes significance as the five-member committee led by Justice Srikrishna is likely to give its report on Friday suggesting "several options with their pros and cons" on the statehood issue.

Justice Srikrishna, a former Supreme Court judge, has expressed hope the report will bring out a permanent solution to the issue relating to bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. The committee was constituted by the Centre on February 3 to look into the demands for the creation of a separate state as well as keeping Andhra Pradesh united.

The Andhra Pradesh government had on Tuesday announced it would withdraw all cases against pro-Telangana students, who were in the forefront of a violent agitation earlier this year.

The government move came after Congress members of Parliament from Telangana region went on a fast in support of the students, a move to win back the confidence of Telangana people in the Congress as the K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Telangana Rashtra Samiti has been trying to hijack the statehood movement.