Anita Joshua
Sonia holds meeting with senior party leaders
“Party not against separate Telangana but wants consensus”

7 December 2009

NEW DELHI: “Seriously concerned” at violence spreading in Andhra Pradesh over the Telangana issue, Congress president Sonia Gandhi held a meeting with senior leaders of the party here on Monday. Union Ministers Pranab Mukherjee, P. Chidambaram and M. Veerappa Moily (who is also in charge of party affairs in Andhra Pradesh) met Ms. Gandhi to formulate a response by the Congress and the government to the issue of a separate State that has been hanging fire for decades. Ms. Gandhi’s political secretary, Ahmed Patel, was also present.

Eager not to be seen as buckling under violent tactics, the Congress kept its cards close to its chest. The only official word from the party was an appeal to Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) leader K. Chandrasekhar Rao — who has been on a fast for a week now — to adopt a more reasonable approach. Congress spokesman Manish Tiwari reiterated the party’s stance that it was not against a separate Telangana but wanted consensus on the issue.

After the high-level meeting in Ms. Gandhi’s office, Mr. Moily and Mr. Patel met Congress MPs from Telangana and informed them that the leadership was seized of the matter and monitoring the situation in the State. The Congress MPs were hopeful of some intervention from Delhi in the next couple of days.

Of particular concern is the distinct possibility of the TRS leadership not being able to control the agitation, which is fast spreading. The all-party meeting held by Chief Minister K. Rosaiah in Hyderabad on Monday was said to have been convened on the advice of the Congress central leadership.