Shinde says decision on Telangana in one month; 'unhappy' TRS chief calls for shutdown on Saturday

NEW DELHI: Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, who chaired a meeting of Andhra political parties on the Telangana issue on Friday, has said a decision on formation of the separate state will be taken in a month.

"I have said earlier that this will be the last all-party meeting on this issue. I have complete faith in the people of Andhra Pradesh and that some solution will be found," Shinde told reporters after the nearly 90-minute meeting.

The all-party meeting, attended by two representatives each of eight Andhra parties - Congress, Telangana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS), TDP, Jaganmohan Reddy's YSR Congress, BJP, CPI, CPM and AIMIM -- predictably saw the Congress articulating a divided stand. While pro-Telangana representative Suresh Reddy opened the discussion by rooting for separate statehood, G Venkat Reddy, who was the last to speak, insisted on keeping Andhra united.

The TRS, BJP and CPI supported creation of Telangana, in line with their declared positions. Not to be outdone, the TDP too seemed to have shed its ambivalence with its representatives seeking to reiterate the stand taken in a 2008 letter to the then President, favouring a separate state. While CPM backed a united Andhra Pradesh, YSR Congress adopted a safe line, with party leader M V Mysura Reddy saying that the party will go by the Centre's decision.

Importantly, TRS declared its "disappointment" with the all-party meeting, with party chief K Chandrasekhara Rao slamming the "continued ambivalence of Congress, TDP and YSR Congress" on the issue. "I am totally disappointed...the government is not serious about creating Telangana. I feel this assurance of a decision in a month is just humbug," Rao told the TOI after emerging from the meeting.

TRS has decided to protest against the refusal of Congress, YSR Congress and TDP to spell out its stand on Telangana as well as the government's indecision by calling for a Telangana bandh on Saturday. The party will announce its future course of action after consulting its representatives in a day or two.

AIMIM favoured a united Andhra Pradesh, but said that if a state has to be created, Hyderabad should be its capital and the new state should comprise Rayal-Telangana region.

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Shinde says decision on Telangana in one month; 'unhappy' TRS chief calls for shutdown on Saturday