NEW DELHI: India is all set to have its 29th state.
The new state of Telangana will be carved out of the present state of Andhra Pradesh, which was formed on November 1, 1956.
Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram announced close to midnight Wednesday that the process for the formation of the new state will be set in motion.
The announcement came on the 64th birthday of Congress President and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi as the fast-unto-death protest of Telangana Rashtra Samithi President K Chandrashekhar Rao entered its 11th day.
A resolution will be passed in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, which will be followed up with the passing of the necessary bill in Parliament, officials said.
In a major move ahead of the general election in 2004, Sonia Gandhi agreed to the formation of the new state, reversing the stand of her Congress Parliamentary Party, a major partner in the UPA.
Soon after the UPA government was formed, the Telangana proposal was included in the President’s Address to Parliament, the ruling UPA’s National Common Minimum Program. It was then
made clear that the appropriate decision would be taken at the appropriate time, through consultations and consensus.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah, who was summoned to the capital, was available for consultations, before the decision was taken.
Rao, whose protest apparently helped hasten the process, broke his fast immediately after Chidambaram's statement.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who returned on Wednesday morning from Russia, met twice with the Congress Core Group, comprising of Congress president, the prime minister, Chidambaram and Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary, Ahmed Patel.
The Telangana issue is a thorny one, being tied with the formation of Andhra state and pressure to make Greater Hyderabad, the present-day capital of the undivided Andhra Pradesh, into Union Territory, besides the demand for Rayalaseema.
