Telangana: Congress goes into a huddle

NEW DELHI: Caught in a perfect Catch-22 situation, the Congress high command on Saturday sought to buy some more time to take a final decision on the burning Telangana issue.  Armed with the report of Andhra Pradesh Governor ESL Narasimhan that suggested the Centre to take a final decision ‘cautiously’, the core committee members of the Congress party held multiple meetings with Congress leaders from the state separately and decided to continue further consultations on Monday.  Governor Narasimhan, who was asked by the Centre to submit a status report, is understood to have submitted a three- page report on eight points and expressed concern over the law and order situation as the agitation in the Telangana region is getting intensified.  Sources said that the Governor informed the Centre that economic and infrastructure development was held up due to the general strike.   The Governor met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and explained the ground realities, besides submitting the report. He spent more than two hours in the Prime Minister’s Office briefing officials.The Governor met Home Minister Chidambaram, Defence Minister A K Antony, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and appraised them the situation in the state. The Congress core committee members - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister A KAntony, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and political secretary to Congress president Ahmed Patel on Saturday held one-to-one meetings with party leaders from the state separately and discussed the Telangana issue which has virtually divided the party on regional lines.Later, the core committee members met again and decided to continue further talks with some more leaders from the state on Monday.  After the day-long hectic meetings, both the Governor and Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is also incharge of party affairs in the state, ruled out the possibility of imposition of President’s rule.Maintaining that the the consultation within the Congress top brass would resume on Monday, Azad said, “I can’t give a time line.