New Delhi, June 18 (PTI): Congress top brass is virtually burning the mid-night oil to find a solution to the Telangana statehood demand amid threats by party MPs, MLAs and ministers from the region to quit en masse if a decision on the issue is not taken soon. Party president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday took stock of the situation in Andhra Pradesh in a two-hour long meeting of Congress Core Group in New Delhi.
This was second meeting of the Core Group since yesterday in which the issue was discussed at length, but no final decision could be arrived at. The issue of Telangana has witnessed a sharp division along regional lines in the Congress in Andhra Pradesh, the only major state where the party is in power on its own.
In the past one week, leaders from Telangana have met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Congress chief’s political secretary Ahmed Patel. Mr. Mukherjee and Mr. Chidambaram, who are also members of the Core Group, are learnt to have apprised the Prime Minister and Gandhi of the views of Telangana leaders on the issue.
This was second meeting of the Core Group since yesterday in which the issue was discussed at length, but no final decision could be arrived at. The issue of Telangana has witnessed a sharp division along regional lines in the Congress in Andhra Pradesh, the only major state where the party is in power on its own.
In the past one week, leaders from Telangana have met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Congress chief’s political secretary Ahmed Patel. Mr. Mukherjee and Mr. Chidambaram, who are also members of the Core Group, are learnt to have apprised the Prime Minister and Gandhi of the views of Telangana leaders on the issue.
