New Delhi: After years of protests and struggle, the proposal for a separate state for Telangana and the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday got the approval of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coordination committee and the Congress Working Committee (CWC).
The decision to carve out a Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh has fulfilled a five-decade-old dream of the people of the region, made up of 10 districts including Hyderabad. It has been decided that Telangana will comprise 10 districts and Hyderabad will remain the joint capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for 10 years. After this period, a suitable place will be identified to be the capital of the Seemandhra region.
The CWC, the highest decision making body of the Congress, passed a resolution after the United Progressive Alliance's co-ordination committee endorsed statehood for Telangana earlier in the day. Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said the new state will come into being in four to five months.
Congress spokesman Ajay Maken said the CWC meeting was presided over by party president Sonia Gandhi and attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh among others. Both strongly pitched for Telangana. Manmohan Singh told the meeting that the formation of Telangana was very much required "for the development of the entire Andhra region".
With a population of over 3.5 crore, the new state comprising mostly the areas of the princel Nizam state will have 17 Lok Sabha seats and 119 assembly seats. When it joins the Indian Union, people of the region would hope that the new identity would help them overcome the challenges of poverty and backwardness which were at the roots of the separate state movement.
The demand for a separate identity for Telangana is virtually as old as the state of Andhra Pradesh, which came into existence in November 1956 through the States Reorganisation Act.
Celebrations broke out in Telangana after the Congress leaders announced the decision. Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) and other groups were jubilant.
