The all-party meeting on the contentious issue of separate statehood for Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh in the national capital has concluded. Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde had invited two representatives from each party to know their views on the issue on Friday, when the Congress was to show its cards.
Stating that the Friday meeting was the last time all parties would discuss the Telangana issue, Shinde said, "There will be a good decision."
Representatives from eight major political parties from Andhra Pradesh were likely to have attended the meeting on the four-decade-old demand for Telangana. The demand to carve a new state out of the economically less developed part of Andhra Pradesh gathered momentum after the Congress party-ruled government accepted the demand in-principle.
So far, 33 Congress, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Praja Rajyam Party and Independent lawmakers hailing from the Telangana region have resigned from parliament as well as the Andhra Pradesh state assembly.
The demand for the separate state has seen violent protests and political power play, with more than 300 people killed between 1969 and 1972.
