New Delhi:
Home Minister P Chidambaram has invited 'recognised' parties in Andhra Pradesh - eight in all - for a discussion to resolve the ongoing Telangana imbroglio.
The meeting is scheduled for January 5 and will be held in New Delhi.
Telangana Joint Action Committee has said the agenda of the January 5 meeting should be made public.
"The Centre's initiative is just the first step," senior Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) leader B Vinod told NDTV, reacting to the invitation. "It is the agenda that will be most important," he added. TRS will be attending the meeting.
At Hyderabad's Gandhi Hospital, pro-Telangana students on hunger strike finally broke their fast after TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao met them.
Earlier, the Osmania students had said their agitation will continue till the Central government issues a clear statement on Telangana and announces a timeline for the formation of a separate state. They also echoed KCR's statement that the mere announcement of a committee for consultation would not be acceptable.
Meanwhile, Wednesday's bandh throughout Andhra Pradesh's Telangana region passed peacefully. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC were clamped across Telangana, and thousands of police and para-military personnel were deployed to maintain law and order.
South Central Railways cancelled 165 suburban and local trains on Wednesday, in view of the bandh, while the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) cancelled 5,200 buses - affecting 30 lakh passengers and costing the corporation Rs 4 crores in lost revenues.
According to Andhra Pradesh's Director General of Police Girish Kumar, the state has suffered losses worth Rs 15 crore in Telangana-related incidents since the agitation began a month ago.