Telangana crisis: Azad meets Sonia

Grappling with the Telangana issue, Congress General Secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad on Wednesday met party chief Sonia Gandhi amid reports that an all-party meeting would be convened to find a way out to the statehood demand.

Azad, in-charge of Andhra Pradesh, met Gandhi at her residence during which he is understood to have briefed her about the situation in Telangana region, where life has been crippled for the past 24 days due to a general strike.

An intense process of consultations has begun within the Congress over the Telangana issue with the party determined to find an early solution to the vexed problem that has again created a volatile situation.

The possibility of a meeting of the Congress Working Committee is also not ruled out as part of the process to help find a way out before the winter session of Parliament.

Azad's meeting comes two days after party leaders from the region and TRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh separately demanding an "early resolution" to the issue.

Rao had rejected Singh's appeal to call off the strike, saying it would not be done until the Centre announces the formation of a separate state with a time frame.

Andhra Pradesh is the only major state where the Congress is in power on its own and the ruling party is feeling the heat on the Telangana issue coupled with the parting of ways of Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.

The Telangana leaders want the government to announce a roadmap for fulfilling a commitment from the Centre offered on December 9, 2009, which was later withdrawn.

The prime minister has already said that he would put the issue before the Congress core group and Gandhi.