Telangana issue: Hyderabad could be made Union Territory

In a new twist to the Telangana statehood saga, the Ministry of Home Affairs is likely to suggest Union Territory status for Hyderabad, reports CNN-IBN.

The report which quotes Home Ministry sources says that Vishakapatnam and Vijayawada are the front-runners for capital of Seemandhra. This is because both cities have airports.

The report comes in the backdrop of protests by Seemandhara MPs over Telangana in the Monsoon Session of Parliament. There have been continuous protests in Seemandhara with the state witnessing bandhs regularly.

At the time of the Telangana announcement, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K Chandrasekhara Rao had ruled out accepting Hyderabad as Union Territory or a permanent joint capital of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Meanwhile, a high-level Congress panel will intensify its deliberations with Andhra Pradesh leaders from tomorrow for a smooth resolution of contentious issues on the creation of Telangana.

The committee headed by senior leader AK Antony will hold a meeting with Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and Andhra Pradesh PCC chief Botsa Satyanarayana tomorrow, sources said.

Control over Hyderabad is a contentious issue despite the fact that the Congress Working Committee had said that it would remain the joint capital of Andhra Pradesh as also the proposed state of Telangana for 10 years.

The Antony Committee was constituted by the Congress high command to look into the situation arising out of the decision to form a separate Telangana state after bifurcating the existing state of Andhra Pradesh. Other members of the Committee are Union minister Veerappa Moily, AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi‘s political secretary Ahmed Patel.

With PTI inputs