Hyderabad:
Home Minister P Chidambaram presented the Srikrishna Committee report on Thursday, which suggested Andhra Pradesh be kept united but with special constitutionally backed provisions for Telengana.
But for pro-Telangana leaders, nothing less than a separate Telangana state will do. And they are even planning protests to make it clear that a united state even with statutory safeguards is not acceptable.
"The people of Telangana are not prepared to accept anything short of Telangana state and Hyderabad as its capital," Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president K Chandrasekhar Rao said.
KCR made it clear what pro-Telangana activists want, irrespective of what the Srikrishna committee has recommended. The TRS wants the government to introduce a bill for the formation of a separate Telangana in the Budget Session of Parliament.
"I honestly appeal to Prime Minister of India: 'Don't dither or dilly dally on the issue. Please come forward, keep your promise which you made on December 10 in the floor of the House and commitment given on December 9'," KCR said.
"Telangana people won't trust. They did nothing for us in the last 60 years. Even if you sanction crores of budget to this region, nothing will happen till we are ruled by Andhra leaders," said Rajalingam Naik, a resident of Karimnagar.
Pro-Telangana parties are now mooting a non-cooperation movement by government employees in the Telangana region, besides mounting pressure on the Congress MPs and MLAs to quit, to force the Central leadership to act in favour of Telangana.
Telangana leaders say the one positive from the Srikrishna committee report is option 5 which talks about the formation of separate Telangana state with Hyderabad as its capital. They say over the next few weeks, pressure will be built up so that the Central government zeroes in on option 5 as the only workable option.