Telangana Development Council In The Offing?

As HNN predicted earlier (Story: TTA), the package deal of Telangana will be offered to make all regions happy and to avoid a separate state possibility. The situation seems after hectic consultations, the Centre appears to be veering towards setting up Telangana Development Council, which is one step short of granting statehood to the region, to wriggle itself out of the present mess.

Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who was in Delhi meeting party leaders for the last two days, called on Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to discuss about the Council.

The national media is agog with reports that during the meeting with Manmohan Singh, the Chief Minister is said to have briefed him about the pros and cons of carving out separate state, politically and otherwise, not only in the state but also elsewhere in the country.

The proposed Council would be provided with vast funds to develop the region, which has been the main reason cited by the separatists for formation of separate state.

While the Centre’s plan may see that the movement for Telangana subsides, at least for the time being, such financial packages have to be offered to other states where such demands persists.

How the Centre will mop up additional funds to that extent is a big question though it does not have to allocate money in all states along with Andhra Pradesh.

The Congress leaders are said to have elicited the opinion of Governor E S L Narasimhan about the move and he too reportedly supported the move.

The Governor and APCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana are likely to leave for Delhi for consultations later this week.

The Telangana protagonists including Congress leaders from the region, however, are opposed to the plan and have openly said that they will not accept anything which is short of Telangana.