New Delhi: Working on a specific brief to balance both pro and anti-statehood lobbies in Andhra Pradesh, the Union home ministry has finalised a carefully drafted terms of reference on Telangana. It will be notified by the weekend after political clearance from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Home minister P Chidambaram is scheduled to consult the two leaders soon after he returns from Kolkata where he is attending a meet on tackling Naxalism.
Keeping in mind the situation in Andhra, a term of eight months has been recommended for the high-powered committee headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice BN Srikrishna. Sources said this term could be extended, at the most, by another four months.
The terms of reference, drawn up in consultation with Justice Srikrishna and former home secretary VK Duggal, member secretary of the panel, gives enough elbowroom to work for an amicable solution, said the government sources. “The attempt has been to design it in such a manner that it does not reflect any bias either towards Telengana or United Andhra,” they said.
At the same time, the contention was that the core issue of Telangana, because of which the committee was being set up, would find mention in the terms of reference. “They cannot be only development oriented,” the sources said, hinting that the committee would have enough leeway not to be bound strictly by the terms of reference.
Significantly, government sources affirmed that the terms of reference had been drafted in such a manner so as to serve as a template in tackling similar statehood demands elsewhere in the country. The multi-point agenda makes clear references to Telangana’s backwardness and the reasons behind it, the historical grounding of the region and the conclusions drawn by the first States Reorganisation Commission headed by Justice Fazl Ali.
The five-member committee, which will broadly operates out of New Delhi and Hyderabad, is expected to hold its first meeting within a week of the formal notification by the government. Sources said it would hold consultations with all stakeholders including non-recognised political parties of the state and record their views on whether Andhra needs to be bifurcated or not.
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