Govt likely to convene meet on Telangana before January 26

New Delhi, Jan 16 (PTI) The Centre is contemplatingconvening a meeting of recognised political parties of AndhraPradesh before the Republic Day to discuss recommendations ofSrikrishna Committee on Telangana, in a bid to find anacceptable solution to the statehood issue.

Sources said the government would like to take adecision on the recommendations of the Committee possiblybefore the Budget session of Parliament starting inFebruary-end.

"Home Minister P Chidambaram would shortly be callinga meeting of all political parties again to get their views onthe report," a senior government official said.

A decision about the possible date is expected to betaken at a high-level meeting scheduled to be held tomorrow.

As three major parties - TRS, TDP and BJP - did notparticipate the January six meeting, where the report was madepublic, the Centre was treading cautiously and expectingparticipation of all the eight parties.

The Centre is hopeful that all the eight politicalparties will attend the next meeting on Telangana.

However, it is not clear how many representatives willbe invited from each party. Since two representatives wereinvited for the January meeting, the TRS had alleged that theCentre wanted a split opinion from each party, leading to itsboycott.

Though the Srikrishna Committee gave six options tofind a solution to the Telangana issue, the panel itselfrejected the first four options suggested by it as"non-practicable".

So, the next meeting will mainly concentrate on thetwo key recommendations -- keeping Andhra Pradesh united withConstitutional and Statutory measures for empowerment of theTelangana region as it "is the best way forward" and creatinga separate state which can be the "second best" option totackle the statehood issue.

The Committee itself found that the other four options-- maintaining status quo, bifurcating the state intoSeemandhra and Telangana with Hyderabad as Union Territory andthe states having their own capitals, bifurcation intoRayala-Telangana and coastal Andhra regions with Hyderabad aspart of Rayala-Telangana and bifurcation into Seemandhra andTelangana with enlarged Hyderabad metropolis as a separateUnion Territory -- made by it are not practicable.

As part of the exercise to find an amicable solution,Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had already met some MPsfrom Andhra Pradesh.