Cannot give time-frame for Telangana: PC

He said at the government level too,“most extensive consultations” had taken place.

While noting that the process of formation of a state takes time,he said the formation of Telangana will not take that long as the creation of Chhattisgarh or Jharkhand. The process will be taken forward in accordance with the procedure and precedence,he said but refused to give a “date”.

Chidambaram’s reply came after the process of seeking clarifications from him on his statement of Telangana last week turned into a short debate.

He rebutted the Opposition argument that the decision was taken in a haste without enough homework and argued that the appointment of the Srikrishna Committee which came up with a voluminous report was part of the exercise. On the vexed issue of Hyderabad,he said the Congress has recommended that Hyderabad be the joint capital for 10 years.

Earlier,the Congress came under attack from the Opposition. While TDP’s Y S Chowdary accused it of taking a decision in an autocratic manner,BJP’s Venkaiah Naidu said the decision was announced in view of the elections. Naidu argued that the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and the Congress’s central ministers have conceded that they were kept in the dark. CPM’s Sitaram Yechury claimed the Congress took the decision to cut its losses in Andhra Pradesh.