Centre bids to buy more time on Telangana

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Saturday sought to buy more time to take a final decision on the burning issue of carving out a separate Telangana State from Andhra Pradesh saying it needs to hold more consultations.Amidst mounting pressure on the party high command for an early decision on the issue, Congress Core Committee members – Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister A K Antony, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and political secretary to Congress President, Ahmed Patel – discussed the issue for more than one hour.“We are in the process of consultations. Yesterday, we discussed it in the core group. Today also some of my colleagues discussed it with me. Further consultations would be needed. We are in the process of it,” Mukherjee said.He said the government is aware of the gravity of the situation and the ongoing agitation in Telangana region. Mukherjee, however, refused to give any time-frame for the consultations.Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is in charge of party affairs in Andhra Pradesh, had submitted his report to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The party core committee discussed it on Friday and Saturday. Azad, who had several rounds of discussions with the Congress leaders from all the three regions  of  AP, said that it is not an easy decision to take. “We need to take everybody on board. More discussions are needed,” Azad said. Telangana Congress leaders, who are camping in Delhi, decided to adopt a wait and watch policy, at least for the time being. Meanwhile, CPM leader Prakash Karat urged the Centre to take a quick decision on Telangana. Karat said that there is no need for further consultations since all  sections of the society had submitted their views to the Sri Krishna Committee.