PC’s ‘T’ party on Jan 6 in “boycot trouble”

The T-party being hosted by the Union Home Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, on January 6 in New Delhi to discuss the Justice B N Srikrishna Committee report seems to be running into troubled waters.It might be recalled that the Union Home Minister, after the receipt of the report on the crucial Telangana issue from the five-member Justice Srikrishna Committee on December 30 last, has invited two representatives each from the eight recognized political parties from the State to attend a meeting on January 6 to discuss about the report before making it public.
However, with just three days left for the crucial meeting to take place, the TRS and BJP have decided to boycott the meeting and the TDP is likely to follow suit. While the TRS viewed the meeting as a delaying tactic on the part of the Union Home Ministry and that the party stood by its one-point demand of a separate Telangana State, the TRS president even went to the extent of stating that only one representative from each party should be invited to the meeting as against the two representatives which would result in multiple opinions being expressed. The BJP, on its part, declared that it would not participate in the meeting as it would not serve any purpose and that it would not accept anything less than a separate Telangana State.
The TDP is caught in a dilemma as the party is divided on the Telangana issue with those from the region supporting the demand for separate State and the leaders from Seemandhra espousing the cause for a united State. However, the TRS stand that only one representative from each party should be invited has come in handy for the TDP to take umbrage in it. The TDP’s argument is that if Ms Sonia Gandhi represents the Congress party being the AICC president, then the TDP president, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, too would participate in the meeting. But the goings on in the party indicates that the TDP would also boycott the meeting.As far as the Congress is concerned, the party seems to be getting prepared to attend the January 6 meeting. The APCC president, Mr D. Srinivas, held discussions with party leaders, Ms Kavuri Sambasiva Rao and Mr N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, who had represented the Congress in the earlier all-party meeting in January last year. Both are likely to represent the party again at the ensuing meeting on Thursday.
The MIM and the PRP too are likely to attend the T-party at New Delhi following the discussions held by the leaders of both the parties with the Chief Minister, Mr N. Kiran Kumar Reddy. Though both the Left parties are undecided as of now about their participation, they are likely to relent and attend the meeting only to seek more time for them to study before airing their views.Meanwhile, the Chief Minister, who will be reaching Delhi on January, 5 is expected to hold a meeting of MPs from the State including those belonging to the Telangana region, who, of late, have become a thorn in the flesh for the Congress High Command by airing their views on Telangana despite a gag order. The MPs and MLAs from the region have even threatened to resign en masse if the demand for a Telangana State was not conceded.
Against this looming political uncertainty on one side and building up of security arrangements by the police on the other, the peace-loving people are reeling under a fear psychosis about the law and order situation in the coming days. The declaration of TRS about re-launching its agitation in a big away from January 6 has only intensified the apprehensions of the people as well as the business community. While the people have begun stocking essential commodities by indulging in panic buying of daily needs, the business establishment have started taking precautionary measures to protect their establishments from being damaged by violent incidents of stoning etc.