According to highly placed sources, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday shared her plans regarding Telangana with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Reddy in Delhi. Reddy is also believed to have taken up the matter with the top political leadership in New Delhi.
To get the Union Budget passed in Parliament in March 2013-the cooperation of 30 Congress Members of Parliament from Andhra Pradesh is needed. To get this support the All India Congress Committee has floated a three-point secret formula, codenamed the ‘roadmap to Telangana’.
Sonia has informally proposed the three-point formula to resolve the six-decade-old Telangana tangle. Informed sources said that a Telangana Regional Council and Rayalaseema Development Council will be established, while Guntur will be given the status of
the capital of the state.
The contentious issue of Hyderabad will be decided after 11 years -- until then it will be the common capital of the three regions -- coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema and Telangana.
Informally, AICC leaders are feeding tidbits not only to the Congress leaders, but also to the media. Party spokesperson P C Chacko on Tuesday shared the roadmap with Congress leaders after being authorised by his superiors.
Informed sources told this correspondent that Reddy has agreed to this as a policy, but the Telangana Joint Action Committee has not. This disagreement has come as a stumbling block for further clarity.
AICC insiders claim that this formula was aimed to have a smooth Budget session of Parliament. If such a proposal was agreed upon by the Congress leaders of Telangana, Seema and Andhra -- then it will be given the stamp of approval by the Andhra Pradesh assembly.
Reddy spent two days in Delhi, and met Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Defence Minister A K Antony, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. He also met President Pranab Mukherjee.
Reddy is believed to have conveyed the three-point formula to all the top leaders in Delhi. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Union home Ministry wanted Governor of Andhra Pradesh ESL Narasimhan to come to New Delhi on February 10 to assist the ongoing exercise on Telangana.
