Telangana panel meets in Delhi

The committee,constituted by the Centre on February 3 nearly two months after it announced that it will initiate steps for the formation of a separate state of Telangana,met here and is understood to have decided on its strategy.

The five-member committee headed by former Supreme Court Judge Srikrishna has been given time till the end of this year to submit its report. The seven-point terms of reference,announced by the Centre yesterday,has mandated the committee to “examine the situation in the state of Andhra Pradesh with reference to the demand for a separate state of Telangana as well as the demand for maintaining the present status of a united Andhra.”

The committee includes Ranbir Singh,Abusaleh Shariff,Ravinder Kaur and former Home Secretary Vinod K Duggal as member-secretary.

The panel will hold wide-ranging consultations with political parties,civil socities and other outfits on the Telangana issue,which has divided almost all the political parties in Andhra Pradesh on regional lines.

The meeting also took place against the backdrop of a day-long bandh in the Telangana region called by the Osmania University’s Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) in protest against the terms of reference of the committee.