The Congress is concerned at the deep divide in party ranks in Andhra Pradesh and is planning a series of measures to heal the rift.
After unleashing a storm by hastily announcing support to a separate Telangana state, the Congress is now planning to sit out, hoping that the agitation loses steam in the next few days.
Meanwhile, plans for a statement by the government have been shelved for the moment. The statement will now be issued only after the winter session of parliament.
The Congress leadership and the government have been under pressure from the “united Andhra” lobby to make a statement that will pacify agitators in coastal and Rayalaseema regions of the state. MPs from the regions have been lobbying hard with the leadership as well as senior ministers in the government to make it clear that the Centre will not move on Telangana in the present circumstances.
“Everybody in the state is disturbed. All we want is for the government to make it clear that it will not go forward on the question of separate statehood [to Telangana] till there is agreement on the issue in the state assembly,” KP Rao, a Lok Sabha MP of the party, said.
The Congress leadership has not ruled out a gesture to assuage sentiments in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema.
“We can understand the anxiety of representatives of the two regions. They are under pressure and want a statement so that they can show something to their supporters,” a Congress political manager said.
The leadership is also concerned at the deep divide in party ranks in Andhra and is planning a series of measures to heal the rift. It first plans to call a joint meeting of Congress MPs from Andhra, followed by a similar meeting of party MLAs from the state.
Senior leaders have also asked Andhra MPs to stop airing their differences in public. “We are after all in the same party, this sort of thing is sending a very bad signal,” a Congress working committee member said.
The leaders also cautioned Jaganmohan Reddy, who had on Tuesday joined TDP MPs protesting the Centre’s pro-Telangana decision.
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