Congress, TDP caught in a cleft stick

HYDERABAD: A day after Diwali, confusion prevails all around both with regard to the schedule of the proposed all-party meeting on State bifurcation and the stand of each political party.

When reporters contacted officials of the Home Ministry, they leaked information that the Centre had decided to hold meetings with political parties from the State on November 12 and 13 to gather their views on issues arising out of bifurcation.

However, by evening, the same officials asked the scribes not to publicise the dates as the ministry was still mulling over the same and may announce it in a day or two.

According to sources, as the two main opposition parties from the State, TDP and YSRC, have almost decided to skip the all-party meet, the Centre is unable to finalise the exact timetable.

This time, instead of eliciting the viewpoints of parties at one go in a single meeting, the Centre has decided to meet with four parties one day and four, the next.

Meanwhile, the issue of sending views on the GoM's terms of reference and presenting views at the proposed all-party meeting is keeping almost every party, including the Congress, on the tenterhooks.

The dilemma of the Congress came to the fore Monday during two meetings ' one held by PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana with his Telangana peers, and the second, held by both Botcha and Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy with their Seemandhra colleagues.

The party's Telangana leaders wanted the terms of reference of GoM to be within the ambit of the Congress Working Committee resolution whereas their Seemandhra counterparts under the leadership of the Chief Minister and Botcha wanted United AP.

Interestingly, earlier, when the PCC chief had held a meeting with his T-leaders, some such as Rajya Sabha member Palvai Govardhan Reddy came down heavily on the Chief Minister's reluctance to hold a similar meeting with them.

'Is Kiran Reddy CM of the entire state? Has he relegated his position only to Seemandhra? It is unfair to hold Seemandhra leaders' meet at his camp-office by shunning Telangana leaders. We all should socially boycott Kiran henceforth. Even T-ministers should start revolting against the CM,' the Congress veteran reportedly told his peers.

The other meeting held at the Chief Minister's camp-office later in the day witnessed a heated argument between loyalists of the party such as minister Kondru Murali, and Kiran's followers such as ministers Sake Sailajanath and Ganta Srinivasa Rao on submitting their views to the GoM.

On the other hand, the TDP is also unable to decide its position either on sending its views to the GoM or attending the all-party meet. Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu will take a final decision in this regard on Tuesday after holding a meeting of his party leaders from both regions.