Decision on Telangana statehood in a month: Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde

Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Friday said the central government will take a decision on Telangana statehood within a month.

"The meeting was very cordial. Some representatives said the decision should be given as early as possible, and some said that it should be taken within a month," Shinde told reporters after the all-party meeting here.

He said he has full faith that there will be a solution to the problems being faced by people of Andhra Pradesh.

Meanwhile, members of regional parties from Andhra Pradesh who attended the meeting today, described it as "inconclusive", but also noted that it had been called only to "elicit views".

Unhappy with the Centre's meet on Telangana, TRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao called for bandh in the region on Saturday.

The four-decade-old demand for Telangana, which is to be carved out of the economically less developed part of Andhra Pradesh, gathered momentum after the Congress party-ruled government accepted the demand in principle.

So far, 33 Congress, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Praja Rajyam Party and Independent lawmakers hailing from the Telangana region have resigned from parliament and the Andhra State Assembly.

The Telangana region comprises 10 Andhra Pradesh districts: Hyderabad, Adilabad, Khammam, Karimnagar, Mahbubnagar, Medak, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Rangareddy, and Warangal. The Musi River, Krishna and Godavari rivers flow through the region from west to east.

Since Telangana was merged with Andhra state to form Andhra Pradesh state in 1956, there were several agitations in Telangana to invalidate the merger and to form Telangana state. On December 9, 2009, Government of India announced process of formation of Telangana state.

Due to objections raised in Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions immediately after the announcement, and due to the agitation in those regions for 14 days, the decision to form the new state was put on hold on December 23, 2009.

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