AP parties welcome Centre's initiative

The invitation comes in the wake of week long protests against the Centre’s announcement of holding consultations on the issue.

As many as 13 Telangana Congress ministers who have resigned want a timeframe for the resolution of the issue that has brought AP to a standstill for the past one month.
While Telangana Congress leaders welcomed the Centre’s initiative for talks as a step forward and a new year gift for the region, the all party Telangana Joint Action Committee said it would take a stance after studying the agenda for the talks. Eight recongised political parties including the Praja Rajyam Party and the Majlis Ittehadul-e-Muslimeen have been invited for the consultation.

However, Osmania University student leaders have urged the Centre to invite not just political parties but individuals, civil society organisations, cultural organisations and other who have been  part of the movement for statehood for Telangana.

Various student JACs  of different universities have decided not to call off their protests until the Centre announces the formation of Telangana.

Meanwhile, leaders of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions who are against bifurcation of the state said there was no need for consultations when the stand of all parties on the issue was wellknown. Vijayawada Congress MP L Rajagopal in a letter to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has opposed the talks as also the setting up any more committees on the issue.  TDP leader from Telangana N Janardhan Reddy said the purpose of the meeting was not clear especially when all political parties had split vertically on regional loyalties.

Chidambaram on Wednesday sent an invitation to the leaders of the 8 parties as a follow up of his statement of December 23 in which he had promised to hold wide ranging consultations. Those invited are Congress, TDP, Telangana Rashtra Samiti, CPI, CPI(M), Praja Rajyam Party, BJP and MIM. However, there is no PRP in Telangana since the two legislators from the region and the cadres broke away from the parent party after it made a U-turn on Telangana issue and set up a separate party called Telangana Praja Rajyam Party.

TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao who held a long meeting with his colleagues and advisers on Wednesday evening after the announcement came from Delhi, said he was prepared for talks but would not accept setting up of any committee as such a step would not only be a waste of time but also a known method of keeping the issue in cold storage.