By IANS,
New Delhi : The multi-party meeting chaired by union Home Minister P. Chidambaram to discuss statehood for Telangana ended in a logjam Tuesday with no consensus on the controversial issue.
TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who is spearheading the agitation for a separate Telangana state to be carved out of Andhra Pradesh, said no decision was taken at the meeting. “We are waiting for the final response” from the central government, he told reporters.
The leaders of eight political parties from Andhra Pradesh who attended the talks appealed for peace and harmony in Andhra Pradesh.
“We representatives of eight recognised political parties of Andhra Pradesh attended the meeting convened by the home minister. We have expressed our views at the meeting and they have been noted by the central government…. It is our earnest appeal that peace, harmony and law and order should be maintained in the state,” they said in a joint statement issued at the end of the meeting.
Chidambaram also pitched for a halt to agitations in the state.
“We must recognise the fundamental importance of restoring normalcy in Andhra Pradesh. There must be a halt to agitations and bandhs. Law and order must be maintained. Children must go to schools and colleges. People must be allowed to carry on their normal day-to-day activities,” the home minister told the meeting.
Representatives of the Congress, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the Praja Rajyam Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen took part in the talks.