Final decision on Telangana likely after Diwali

Finance Minister and Congress trouble-shooter Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday took command of the consultations with Andhra Pradesh leaders to prepare the ground for the creation of Telangana, even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decided against imposing President's rule in the troubled state after holding talks with Governor E S L Narasimhan.

Assisting Mukherjee in the consultations are Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy and members of a core committee of Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister A K Antony and Health Minister and General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad constituted by party president Sonia Gandhi last week.

Top party sources said Sonia Gandhi and Dr Singh will take a decision on the situation on Monday after getting a report from Mukherjee.

Mukherjee met Governor Narasimhan, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha on Saturday.

A final decision is likely after Diwali, according to highly-placed political sources.

"There is no question of President's rule at the moment," said Azad who is in-charge of the Congress's affairs in Andhra Pradesh. Azad had submitted a report to the party last week on the situation in the state due to the protests.

Life in Telangana region has come to a standstill for the past 27 days, causing concern to the Centre.

Sources said the governor also advised the PM against clamping President's rule in the state as the Congress government is still in power there. The governor is understood to have warned Dr Singh that any such move will disenfranchise the Andhra legislators in the Presidential election in May.

Governor Narasimhan first met Chidambaram to brief him about the developments in the state and then called on the PM at his residence. He later separately met Mukherjee and Antony as well.