Telangana on hold

The sine die closure of the session, which followed brief uproarious scenes in the assembly in the morning, was a clear signal to agitating leaders, including from the ruling Congress, from the non-Telangana regions of Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra, to cool their rising tempers and help restore normalcy across the state. 

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram’s announcement last Wednesday on initiating a process for forming the Telangana state with an appropriate resolution in the state assembly had triggered anti-Telangana protests in the non-Telangana regions. It was though primarily aimed placate Telangana leader K Chandrasekhar Rao, who was on an indefinite hunger strike.   

Assembly chaos

The sine die closure was, however, on expected lines as Andhra had plunged into a state of utter political chaos in the face of a spate of “resignations” by over a hundred legislators and the threat of resignations by 20 ministers belonging to the Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra regions to protest against any move to grant statehood to Telangana.

The resignations have virtually paralysed the Rosaiah government, with a worried Congress high command sending signals to its rank and file in the state last Saturday that it would not hesitate to even bring Andhra under a spell of President’s rule to bring the situation under control.

Cong clarifies

But on Monday, the high command ruled out imposing the Central rule. Within hours of the sine die closure, the Congress high command stepped in and assured agitated party leaders from the non-Telangana regions that the Centre would not take any step on granting statehood to Telangana without first getting a resolution passed in the state legislature and that it would take “everybody on board” in the process.

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee assured a delegation of party MPs from the non-Telangana regions that the Centre would not consider creation of Telangana unless and until the state assembly adopted an appropriate resolution recommending it, according K S Rao, a member of the delegation. While the high command maintained that it stood by Chidambaram’s announcement, it also sought to dilute it.
“The Home Minister just said that the Centre would initiate the process (of creating Telangana), provided that the State Assembly passed a resolution,” party spokesman Shakeel Ahmed told newsmen during the day.

Party sources said that the Congress high command had decided to underline the inherent qualifier in Chidambaram’s statement, i.e., requirement of an appropriate resolution by the state legislature.

T-tangle

* No Central move unless and until state assembly adopts a resolution 
* Cong assures to take ‘everybody on board’ before initiating any move on statehood
* No plans to bring the state under Central rule; CM Rosaiah to stay