Congress MPs from Telangana who have resigned from their posts today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who assured them the statehood demand issue was being looked into by Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Raising the Telangana issue, the MPs wanted the Centre to announce the formation of a separate Telangana state immediately.
“The prime minister told us that he understands the difficulties and our feelings on the Telangana issue,” Nizamabad MP Madhu Goud Yaskhi said.
The MPs also told Singh that the Centre should not stress for a new resolution from the Andhra Pradesh Assembly on deletion of a particular clause of a 1975 Presidential Order which makes Hyderabad a free zone for employment in police, whose repeal will ensure that residents of Telangana get preference in employment there.
Home Minister P Chidambaram had yesterday said the resolution in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly was passed in January 2010 and therefore the Central government wanted to be absolutely sure that there is a consensus on that demand that the Clause F of paragraph 14 should be deleted.
“We told Singh that there is no need for a new resolution. The old resolution can be taken into account,” he said.
Yaskhi said the Prime Minister told them that he has asked Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad to hold consultations with party leaders on the issue and find a solution.
[PTI]