Congress cornered on Telangana statehood issue

Mangalore Today

Hyderabad: Dec.8: Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government may be forced to consider the demand for a separate Telangana state as protestors continue to clash with police at Osmania University in Hyderabad.

Telangana Rashtra Samithi President K Chandrashekhar Rao’s fast for a separate state of Telangana also entered the 10th day on Tuesday.

Now students at the Osmania University have taken the lead in the protest for a separate state. The violent clashes between students and police have forced Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah to call an all-party meet to discuss the issue.

"At the present we leave the decision to the high command. That is the Congress opinion and everyone else also expressed their opinion," said Congress leader Geeta Reddy.

Congress has also been forced into a corner by Chandrashekhar Rao. Rao’s TRS says it will not relent till the Centre assures a separate state of Telangana.
"Without any clear cut decision by the Congress or the UPA Government Rao won’t stop fasting. In the all-party meeting all the parties have agreed to passing a resolution in the state Assembly for forming a separate state," TRS leader Harish Rao said.

The strong stand of the TRS has now forced even Congress MPs from the Telangana region to take a tough stand.

"For the first time students, teachers, employees and the common man who has taken the movement in their hand," Congress MP from Nizamabad, Madhu Yaskhi Goud, said.

Sources say the Centre will now announce some concrete decisions on statehood for the Telangana region as Congress cannot continue with its fluid stand on the issue.

But at the same time the party is desperate to avoid making TRS’s Chandrashekhar Rao the hero of the Telangana cause.

Telangana Battle
•    They want 10 districts in the erstwhile Nizam’s state of Hyderabad in present day Andhra Pradesh
•    They have been demanding a separate state alleging that the people of Andhra Pradesh are discriminating against them
•    Telangana is a Naxal hotbed. It shares a border with Chhattisgarh. Part of Danda-karanya is in Telangana
•    The twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad are also in Telangana. Andhra is not ready to part with the state capital. However, leaders of the Telangana movement say Andhra must shift it’s capital to Vishakhapatnam