Telangana report to skirt yes or no

30/12/2010- New Delhi: Squarely throwing the ball into the Centre’s court, the Justice B N Srikrishna Committee report on the Telangana issue is said to have refrained from taking a categorical stand on carving out a separate state from Andhra Pradesh. Sources said the report, running into approximately 800 pages, to be formally signed today (Thursday) by the committee members in a small ceremony in the Home Ministry and then handed over to Home Minister P Chidambaram, has avoided making a specific recommendation either for or against a separate Telangana state. Instead, it "discusses" the pros and cons of a Telangana state and provides a set of options to the Centre. "(What the Centre does) is finally a call for the political leadership, not for the panel," said sources.

So the report discusses the historical position -- the demand raised at the States Reorganisation Commission headed by Justice Fazl Ali in 1953 -- and spells out options. These include a unified Andhra as it exists today (as demanded by the Praja Rajyam, CPM and MIM, who have listed it as their first preference), and a separate Telangana state that should include Rayalaseema, with Hyderabad as its capital (listed as second preference of the MIM). A demand for Hyderabad as a Union Territory has also been discussed, sources said. The option of three separate states -- of Telangana, Rayalseema and coastal Andhra -- raised by the Rayalseema Hakkulu Committee finds mention too.

Chapters authored by a former Central Water Commission chairman and a former head of the Central Electricity Authority, refer to issues of water and power-sharing between the three regions of Andhra Pradesh. The Congress and the TDP, the report is understood to assert, are split vertically on the demand along regional lines. Only the TRS and the CPI have endorsed the demand of Telangana, it says. The BJP, on the other hand, though supportive of the demand, boycotted the proceedings of the Srikrishna committee. The political consequences of a division are, of course, not a part of the report but will be a challenge for the UPA leadership while taking a final call on Telangana. For, a separate state would not only mean a vertical split in the Congress, it could tilt the political scales in favour of ousted leader Jagan Reddy.

Sources said the report does not make any mention of other statehood demands across the country like Gorkhaland, Bundelkhand, Harit Pradesh and Bundelkhand even though committee members agree that the various options spelt out would have a "natural bearing" on these demands as well.
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(source-Indian Express-MSN News)