Cong top brass hold deliberations over Telangana

New Delhi, Jan 14 (PTI) Grappling with the issue of aseparate Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh, Congress topbrass, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chiefSonia Gandhi, held deliberations here tonight on the subject.

The growing clamour for a separate Telangana has been aticklish issue for the party which is divided over it onregional lines in the state.

Home Minister P Chidambaram was present at the meetingafter which sources said there would be further consultationswith party MPs from the state, especially from the Telanganaregion.

With the Congress buffeted by Telangana issue and YS Jaganmohan Reddy''s rebellion, Finance Minister PranabMukherjee had held a meeting with Congress MPs from Telanganaand had asked them to "co-operate".

The MPs have remained firm on their demand insistingthat there was no question of going back. "We are not going torest with anything other than the separate state ofTelangana", has been the refrain among them.

Seeking to buy time, Congress high command appears to betoying with the idea of having a Deputy Chief Minister and PCCchief in Andhra Pradesh from Telangana region amid a growingclamour for a separate state.

Only today, the AICC announced that PCC Chief DSrinivas, who hails from Telangana, would continue tillfurther orders.

Congress is so far maintaining a wait-and-watch approachon the challenge thrown up by the Srikrishna Committee reporton Telangana, which has given various options, includingkeeping the state united as well as formation of a separateTelangana.

The party is banking heavily on newly installed ChiefMinister Kiran Kumar Reddy to tackle the situation.

The deliberations by the top Congress leadership werethe first after rebel leader Y S Jaganmohan Reddy took hisbattle to Delhi by organising a one-day fast here, which wasattended by two dozen Congress MLAs including a few from theTelangana region.