A second State Reorganization Commission (SRC) — the first one was in 1953 — which will explore the creation of new states and, significantly, also the division of Uttar Pradesh, could be appointed any time after the Presidential elections.

The Congress has sounded out some of its partners in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and will consult others for a consensus, a highly placed party source has confirmed to The Sunday Express.

A senior official of the Ministry of Home Affairs declined to comment but did not deny the move. Demands for statehood are politically very sensitive and so the government is very cautious.

But the Congress leadership is increasingly of the view that a second SRC is necessary for “political stability” in the country — and in the party’s own interests. Simmering tension in Telengana and the party’s complete rout in the biggest state, Uttar Pradesh, have pushed the Congress towards revisiting the issue.

The party had promised the formation of a second SRC on several occasions, particularly when loud demands for statehood from regions such as Telengana in Andhra Pradesh and Vidarbha in Maharashtra were heard. There is a resolution of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), too, on this.

Regions aspiring to be states in the country are many. Telengana is the most recent example. Harit Pradesh, Bundelkhand and Purvanchal in Uttar Pra-desh, Gondwana with portions of Andhra, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gorkhaland in the hill districts of West Bengal and Kodagu in Karnataka have raised demands at different points. Some of these regions even have their own development councils. Even Delhi and Puducherry, territories with Chief Ministers are not fully states.

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