Even though the Congress high command is yet to take a final call on Telangana, it has drawn up a road map. In this road map, however, one crucial thing is missing: the fate of Hyderabad. Highly-placed sources in the party suggest that the Congress is still to make up its mind on whether Hyderabad should remain as the sole capital of the Telangana region or be designated as a Union territory that will be the joint capital of the two states. This Union territory status could be for a fixed period of time.
The road map may be ready but in an effort to be seen as acting in a democratic manner, the Congress core committee will give a patient hearing to the respective road maps of chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, PCC president Botsa Satyanarayana and deputy chief minister Damodar Raja Narasimha at its meeting in Delhi on Friday. While some indication about the progress of the talks on the separate state demand may emerge on Friday evening, a major announcement is likely after a couple of days.
The announcement will be most likely before BJP prime ministerial aspirant and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi comes calling to Hyderabad on July 27. “We will make sure there is nothing left for Modi to promise the people on the Telangana issue,” Congress sources told INN.
The indecision on Telangana, of choosing between allowing it to be the sole capital of Telangana and a Union territory acting as a joint capital is due to several reasons. “For one, the Congress wants to make it clear to the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) that if it wants a separate state and exclusive rights to Hyderabad, it should quietly merge with the ruling party, like Chiranjeevi did with his Prajarajyam party. The Congress wants to make sure that only it gets the electoral benefit of any positive announcement on Telangana.
If the TRS acts pricey, the Congress will threaten to make Hyderabad the joint capital. The indecision on Hyderabad will also act as leverage in convincing the Seemandhra leaders to come around to accepting the inevitability of the division of the state,” sources who are well aware of the developments told INN. It was keeping these changes in mind that AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh hinted in an interview to an agency on Thursday that a constitutional amendment might become necessary if a certain roadmap is taken for Telangana.
The Congress high command is also understood to be in favour of a chief minister who facilitates and executes without any hesitation the final action plan on Telangana. “The chief minister should abide by the Congress decision and help in implementing it. The party will not hesitate to replace the CM in case he shows some resistance,” the sources indicated. This warning comes in the wake of reports that Kiran Kumar Reddy is actively championing the cause of united Andhra in the run up to the Congress core committee meeting.
