JAC on Telangana meets today as Centre’s deadline for State formation ends

HYDERABAD - The all-party Joint Action Committee (JAC) has called for a meeting on Thursday evening as the deadline set by the Centre for the formation of a separate Telangana state ends today.

However, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday said the committee to observe the demand for a separate Telangana state would be announced next week.

The JAC has already asked the Ministers hailing from the Telangana region to submit their resignations, if the Central Government does not announces in the next 24-hours the formation of a separate Telangana region.

However, there was a mixed opinion with respect to the resignation of elected representatives as per the deadline set by the JAC.

The whole attention has been shifted to New Delhi, as the JAC is hopeful that the Centre would in the next 24-hours announce the formation of a separate state.

Congress leaders from the JAC are in doldrums over the submission of resignations as the other parties are mounting pressure on them to press for their resignations.

Meanwhile, the leaders of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have already made it clear that they would put down their resignations.

However, the Telegu Desam Party (TDP) leaders have agreed to resign but asked the JAC to force the Congress leaders to resign as well.

Earlier on December 29, notwithstanding an assurance from Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee that the Centre would soon take a firm decision on the Telangana statehood issue, ministers belonging to the Telangana region had refuted suggestions that they would withdraw their resignations.

At least 77 Telangana MLAs had tendered their resignations last month to protest the Centre’s attempt to put the formation of Telangana statehood issue on hold.

They had asked the UPA Government at the Centre to come out with a definite time frame for the formation of the Telangana state.

Earlier, the ministers had sent a common resignation letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi in which they pressed for Telangana statehood.

Mukherjee had on December 27 last year asked the Andhra Pradesh ministers to withdraw their resignations, saying the Central Government would soon come announce some good news on the Telangana issue.

A delegation of thirteen ministers headed by State Information and Tourism Minister Geeta Reddy had met Mukherjee to discuss the Centre’s delay in announcing the process for the formation of the Telangana state.

Meanwhile, K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), the chief of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) had formed the Telangana Joint Action Committee with the help of politicians and students supporting the Telangana cause.

The Telangana crisis began with TRS chief Rao sitting on a fast unto death on November 29, 2009, demanding a separate Telangana state. (ANI)