Andhra's Kiran Reddy meets Sonia Gandhi, discusses Telangana

On the eve of the release of the Justice BN Srikrishna committee report on Telangana, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy today met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and is understood to have discussed the political situation in the state.

Kiran Reddy arrived in Delhi this morning to participate in tomorrow's meeting convened by home minister P Chidambaram to discuss the contents of the report of the committee.

He met Gandhi at her 10, Janpath residence for over an hour and is understood to have discussed the political situation in the state arising out of the Telangana statehood demand.

Andhra Pradesh is awaiting with bated breath for the release of the report, which is understood to have dwelled into the demands for a separate Telangana state as well as a united Andhra Pradesh.

During the meeting, the chief minister is believed to have briefed the Congress president about the elaborate security arrangements made by his government to thwart any violence.

Violence had erupted last year in the Telangana region after the Centre decided to hold wide-ranging consultations with all stakeholders on the statehood demand.

Ahmed Patel, Gandhi’s political secretary, was also present at the meeting.

The issue of Congress MPs and MLAs threatening to resign from their posts if the committee did not recommend a separate Telangana state is also believed to have come up for discussion.

However, there was no official word on what transpired at the meeting.

Meanwhile, the Congress high command has asked all party MPs from Telangana to be in the capital today for consultations.

The MPs accompanied by PCC chief D Srinivas are expected to meet finance minister and senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee later in the day. The MPs may also meet other senior leaders of the party today and tomorrow.