Panel on T-state after AP is normal

Thursday’s sudden violent reaction to the conspiracy angle to YSR’s death served as a caution to the Centre about moving forward on the Telangana issue. The Union home secretary, Mr G.K. Pillai, took stock of the situation. He discussed this with the Andhra chief secretary and DGP.

The core group of Congress, which met on Friday, also decided to form a panel on Telangana only after normalcy is restored in the state.

“We discussed the issue, but no decision has been taken,” sources in government said. Asked about a mechanism, including constituting a committee to work for a peaceful resolution of the issue, they said this was possible only after the restoration of normalcy in the state. The mechanism could be discussed in the Cabinet meeting, they said.

The core group meeting of Congress deliberated in detail on the issue.

A crucial issue expected to come up for discussion is the sharing of the waters of the perennial Krishna and Godavari rivers.

The fear of downstream areas in coastal Andhra Pradesh being denied water by a new Telangana state is one of the crucial issues which would have to be resolved through negotiations, government sources said.