If the Centre was looking at the meetings of Congress MPs from Andhra Pradesh with party In-Charge Ghulam Nabi Azad with hopes of finding an amicable solution and thawing of the bitter feelings, its hopes were dashed excruciatingly.
As expected, the MPs from Seemandhra regions and their counterparts from Telangana on Friday hardened their respective stands. While the Telangana MPs continued to maintain that nothing short of a separate state is acceptable, the Seemandhra MPs claimed that the people are opposed to bifurcation of the state.
The Seemandhra MPs told the Congress In-Charge of Andhra Pradesh Affairs that the state will progress both on the industrial and agricultural front if it remains integrated.
Except Eluru MP Kavuri Sambhasiva Rao, all other MPs including Union Minister for State for Human Resources Development Purandareswari, Lagadapati Rajagopal and T Subbirami Reddy attended the meeting.
Earlier, Mr Lagadapati Rajagopal submitted a 20-page report to Azad stating the Congress would suffer a major damage in the local body elections in the event of formation of Telangana.
In his report, Mr Rajagopal reportedly said that the newly launched YSR Congress Party of former Kadapa MP YS Jaganmohan Reddy will seriously dent the chances of Congress Party if elections were to be held in the near future.
Mr T Subbirami Reddy urged the Centre to take a decision on the issue without hurting the sentiments of the people of any of the three regions.
Earlier, the Telangana MPs met Mr Azad and issued a deadline of May 15 for a clear announcement by the Centre on the formation of Telangana.
After the two separate meetings, Mr Azad is believed to be toying with the idea of convening a joint meeting of all the party MPs.