UPA discusses Telangana statehood

With Congress dithering on Telangana statehood, the contentious issue was raised at the UPA Coordination Committee meeting last night with demands for an early resolution of the problem.

A non-Congress UPA leader told the meeting that there was a need to take a view on the issue as early as possible and if this was not done, Congress as also its allies could suffer in the elections. Congress has lost almost all by-elections in Andhra Pradesh which had sent 33 MPs to the Lok Sabha in 2009. The absence of a decision on Telangana has affected Congress in Andhra Pradesh, the only major state where the party is in power on its own. The good showing by Congress in elections in Andhra Pradesh in 2004 and 2009 ensured that the party-led UPA formed government on both ocassions.

The Centre had announced that steps would be initiated to form a separate Telangana state on December 9, 2009 but reversed the decision a fortnight later arguing that more consultations were needed on the issue. Since then, Congress has been grappling with the issue though the party and the government led by it tried in a number of ways to resolve it. The Justice B N Srikrishna Committee report also failed to end the deadlock with a decision on it pending for the past one and half years.

PTI