By IANS
New Delhi : Sensing dissension within its party cadre in Andhra Pradesh, the Congress did a u-turn Monday on the demand for a separate Telangana state, saying the setting up of a second States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) is not in “any way connected with the creation of Telangana”.
The Congress general secretary in-charge of the party’s affairs in Andhra Pradesh Veerappa, Moily said Monday: “Formation of a second SRC would not have any connection with creation of Telangana as a separate state for the region was a promise given in the ruling coalition’s common agenda for governance.”
“Separate statehood for Telangana was a promise given in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)’s Common Minimum Programme (CMP) and a ministerial committee headed by Pranab Mukherjee was working towards it,” he added.
He stated that Telangana would be formed after consulting other political parties.
According to Moily, formation of a second SRC was a decision taken by the Congress Working Committee before the UPA CMP was formed.
Moily’s statement Monday is seen as a u-turn as he had earlier this month stated that a second SRC would soon be formed to deliberate on the issue.
Moily has been forced to change his stand after Congress leaders from Telangana region threatened to resign en-masse if the government goes ahead with the SRC, which they claim is just a tactic to avoid granting statehood to the impoverished north-western region in Andhra Pradesh.
Congress leaders from other states have already started reaching the national capital to reiterate their demands for separate statehood for their respective regions.
The Left parties, which support Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government from outside, are against creation of smaller states and have warned the government against going ahead with such a move.
The Congress, which went to the 2004 polls along with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) – a party formed to push the Telangana movement – on the poll plank of separate statehood, is facing serious trouble in the region.
People in Telangana claim that the region has over the years remained underdeveloped because successive governments in Hyderabad and New Delhi suppressed the rights and hopes of the people there.
The Congress leaders from the region claim that any move to delay the creation of Telangana would damage the party’s prospects in the state in the upcoming assembly and general elections. Of the total 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, 17 fall in the Telangana region.
Those against creation of a separate Telangana, led by Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, maintain that creation of a new state would aggravate the Maoist rebellion in the region. They also say that smaller states are beset by political instability, which would in turn slow their progress.
However, those in favour claim it would be easier to control a Maoist rebellion in a smaller state and that the progress of a state is not linked to its size or political stability.
Telangana was a state between 1948 and 1956 before being merged with the coastal Andhra region to form Andhra Pradesh.
The Left parties have not supported the Congress move to form the second SRC.
“It will open a Pandora’s Box,” said Narayana, Communist Party of India’s Andhra Pradesh state council secretary. The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has also said it would oppose any move to create smaller states.
But news of a second SRC has rekindled hopes of separate statehood for other groups, including a separate Darjeeling state, Bundelkhand, Poorvanchal and Vidarbha.
The Gorkha National liberation Front (GNLF), which is fighting for separate statehood for the Darjeeling Hills, has said a second SRC should look into all demands other than Telangana and Vidarbha in Maharashtra.
Congress leaders from Uttar Pradesh met Manmohan Singh last week to demand a separate Bundelkhand state while party leaders from Rayalaseema region in Andhra Pradesh have said they would now clamour for a separate state too.
There are also demands to create Harit Pradesh in western Uttar Pradesh and Poorvanchal in the eastern region of the state.
In 2000, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance government approved the creation of Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.