NEW DELHI: No breakthrough could be achieved at the all-party meeting on Telangana here on Tuesday. During the four-hour meeting with the 16 representatives of the eight recognized political parties on Tuesday, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram tried to elicit opinion for evolving mechanism to carry forward the process of consultations, to which all the political parties agreed. Chidambaram said the agenda was to deliberate on the mechanism and lay down road map for the consultations.
After meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to brief him on the outcome of the all-party meeting, Chidambaram said a decision would be taken only after the Congress Core Group headed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi and comprising Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Chidambaram, Union Defense Minister A. K. Antony and Congress President’s Political Secretary Ahmed Patel, discusses the issue.
Emerging from the meeting, Majlis-e-Itthehad-ul-Muslimeen President Asaduddin Owaisi said that to carry forward the consultations process, a committee should be set up preferably with a serving supreme court Judge or a retired bureaucrat.
In an interview to a private TV channel, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee emphasized that it was important to elicit the views of the state. This assumes significance in the backdrop of some leaders trying to put out a view that a resolution in the state Assembly was not mandatory and that the Bill for creation of a separate state of Telangana could straightaway be introduced in Parliament. Mukherjee made it clear that formation of a new state is a complex issue and it cannot be done overnight, as demanded by some parties.
Echoing the view, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said: “There is a long history behind the demand for a separate State of Telangana. It is sufficient to refer to the report of the States Reorga-nization Commi-ssion; the Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1956 and the amendment of Article 371(1) of the Constitution; the Six-Point Formula of 1973; and the introduction of Article 371D in the Constitution. More recently, in the elections to the State Assembly of Andhra Pradesh held in May, 2009, the political parties outlined their positions in their respective election manifestos. All this is in the public domain.
Chidambaram said: “The political parties are divided on the issue of Telangana. The issue will be taken to prime minister and only after that the future course of action will be decided.”
If further consultations needed, it would be concluded in a reasonable time frame. Underlining that there were a number of misconceptions surrounding the issue, Chidambaram said one such misconception was that the Central Government acted in haste; that the political parties were not consulted; and that as home minister, he acted as an individual.
“As you are well aware, none of these misconceptions is supported by facts, but I shall not waste your time refuting these misconceptions,” he said. He recalled that the first statement on behalf of the Central Government was made on the basis of the minutes of the all-party meeting held on Dec. 7, 2009.
The situation on the ground altered significantly since the all-party meeting and the first statement on behalf of the Central Government on Dec. 9, 2009. Taking note of the altered situation, on December 23, 2009, the Central Government promised to hold wide-ranging consultations with all political parties and groups in Andhra Pradesh.
