PM to hold talks with party men from Telangana

HYDERABAD: Raising hopes of an early solution to the Telangana issue, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has convened a meeting with Congress MPs, Ministers and MLAs from the region at 5 p.m. in Delhi on Thursday.The Telangana Congress leaders have been restive for the past one week with the Centre not making any announcement on Telangana though the elections to five states were over. Pouring cold water on their hopes, AICC general secretary had said Monday that Telangana was not an “easy” issue to solve.The Telangana MPs, who could not make anything out of the signals emanating from Delhi, recently requested Union Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy’s help and later warned of direct action from July 1 if the Centre remained indifferent to the demand for a separate state.With the Prime Minister calling a meeting and Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad also confirming another meeting with them on June 15, there are now stirrings of hope in the hearts of the Telangana Congress leaders.After the MPs got the message from the PM this evening, Nalgonda MP Gutta Sukhender Reddy said: “We will make it clear to the Prime Minister that the Centre should abide by the December 9, 2009 announcement. Either they should announce Telangana or be prepared to hear the news our death.”