New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is to call for an all-party meeting on the agitation for a separate Telangana state in Andhra Pradesh, sources tell CNN-IBN.
The Congress is likely to announce at the meeting that it is considering the demand for a Telangana state--a step it hopes will calm tempers in Andhra Pradesh. Separately, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah is likely to call all-party meeting in Hyderabad on the Telangana agitation.
Sources tell CNN-IBN Congress president Sonia Gandhi discussed the Telangana agitation with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Law Minister Veerappa Moily on Monday.
IANS reports the movement for a separate state of Telangana took a violent turn on Monday as police and paramilitary forces used force to quell student protests at Osmania University and also beat up journalists.
Rapid Action Force (RAF) and police personnel caned students on the campus to foil their plans to take out a rally to the state assembly as a mark of solidarity with Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) chief K Chandrasekhara Rao, whose fast-unto-death seeking a separate state entered the ninth day.
The agitation came up for discussion in the Lok Sabha where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded a Bill in the current session of Parliament itself for a Telangana state.
Sushma Swaraj, Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu in the Rajya Sabha raised the issue in Zero Hour.
"Andhra Pradesh is on a boil. You don't want a solution. What is the stand of Congress and UPA on Telangana? You said you wanted a consensus. I don't think anybody is opposing now," Naidu said.
In the Rajya Sabha, BJP leader S S Ahluwalia demanded a statement from the Home Minister on Telangana issue.
Union Minister Ambika Soni assured the Rajya Sabha that she would apprise the Home Minister and the Prime Minister about the matter.
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