ESL Narasimhan

New Delhi, Oct. 8: The Centre appears to have gone into overdrive to settle the Telangana issue after the Andhra Pradesh governor met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today and pressed for prompt action to stop the situation from spiralling out of control.

Congress sources said indications were the leadership was making up its mind to form a separate state, nearly two years after the Centre’s midnight announcement on initiating the process of Telangana statehood had triggered a political mutiny in the rest of Andhra.

Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, whom the sources said the Prime Minister trusts more than chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, told Singh the time to dither was over.

Reddy, too, was in Delhi for meetings. Both leaders held separate meetings with Pranab Mukherjee, the party’s main political interlocutor, P. Chidambaram and several other senior ministers.

After meeting Mukherjee, the chief minister said he had got the impression the leadership would “soon come out with some solution for the benefit of the state”.

The meetings came on a day the Telangana Joint Action Committee announced it would not call off a nearly four-week-old general strike, stressing it would continue to protest till “we realise our goal”.

Sources in Delhi said Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi told Mukherjee to hold talks with all stakeholders and submit a report within two days. Mukherjee, who also met other senior leaders from Andhra, said tonight: “The consultations will end on Monday.” Singh and Sonia are expected to meet on Monday evening to discuss the report.

Union minister S. Jaipal Reddy, a Congress leader from Telangana, is assisting Mukherjee in the consultations.

Sources in the Andhra Congress said a decision could come before Diwali. However, Mukherjee said he could not give a “time frame” for a decision, PTI reported.

Congress sources said the coming week would be crucial and an all-party meet might be called to discuss the issue.

The Andhra leaders, who also met A.K. Antony, Chidambaram, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ahmed Patel, said they were happy with the fast-paced developments. Some of them hinted that the senior leaders, including Mukherjee, appeared more considerate and their opposition to the division of the state had been considerably diluted.

One of the main points of disagreement is the status of Hyderabad, one of the 10 Telangana districts. Those against a bifurcation say Hyderabad’s exit from Andhra would spell doom for the state. Sources said the status of Hyderabad was being worked out.

That the Congress leadership has summoned actor-politician Chiranjeevi to Delhi is also being viewed as a sign that the negotiations have entered the final stage. Leaders from coastal Andhra, Pallam Raju and D. Purandeshwari, were consulted too and told to be patient.

The governor, who met home minister Chidambaram before calling on Singh, advised the Prime Minister against any move to clamp President’s rule.

Some leaders said such a proposal was never on the table. “There is no question of President’s rule for the moment,” said Azad, who is in charge of Congress affairs in Andhra.