Telangana decision only after Diwali

Government to convene an all-party meeting late October, and table Ghulam Nabi Azad’s report on formation of a separate state

The report of Ghulam Nabi Azad on formation of a separate state of Telangana will be placed before the leaders at an all-party meeting to be held after Diwali

A core group of ministers, headed by Pranab Mukherjee, on Saturday decided to defer a decision on Teleganga till the festival were over. The Government will convene an all-party meeting here after Diwali. The report of Ghulam Nabi Azad on formation of a separate state of Telangana will be placed before the leaders at the meeting.

The group also urged Congress President Sonia Gandhi to constitute a three-member committee to visit Andhra Pradesh soon after Dussehra to mobilise the party leaders of all three regions to fall in line to support Azad's solution to put an end to the state burning for the past three weeks.

Azad, who explained reasons to the group behind the conclusions he drew, refused to share any details of his report, pointing out that it concerns a sensitive matter and the government does not want to send out any wrong signals until a consensus emerges.

Others in the core group are Home Minister P Chidambaram and A K Antony. Sources said the core group was constituted following discussion on the burning issue in the party's core committee meeting chaired by Sonia Gandhi Friday night.

The Congress sources said the Azad report was being sent to Andhra Pradesh chief minister and PCC chief and both should get it on Sunday to study before a high-level three-member party delegation lands in Andhra Pradesh to speak to the party leaders.

Telangana agitation has paralysed Andhra Pradesh for the past 18 days. The report, which discusses pros and cons but no other solution, was submitted to Sonia Gandhi on Friday by Azad, who is the party’s incharge general secretary of Andhra Pradesh. He finalised the report after consultations with the Andhra PCC president.

On Friday, Sonia Gandhi chaired the core group meeting for the first time since she went abroad for a surgery and suggested to make Azad report as the basis for discussions. Though, Azad refused to discuss the report, but some Congress leaders got a broad hint from him, when he recommended to capitalise to honour wishes of the people.