More than anybody else, the Congress President Sonia Gandhi is very keen on fast-tracking the constitutional process for formation of Telangana state.
She wants to go ahead with the move even if it means keeping the Andhra Pradesh legislative Assembly in suspended animation and keeping the defiant Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy out of the process.
According to Congress sources, Sonia has given clear instructions to the party leaders to speed up the process and ensure that the bill on Telangana formation comes up before the Parliament at the earliest.
"The cabinet note on Telangana will be placed before the next meeting of the Union Cabinet in the first week of October," the sources said, confirming what the AICC General Secretary in-charge of AP Digvijay Singh said on Thursday.
The plan is to see that the Seemandhra leaders fall in line quickly or else keep the Assembly in suspended animation and get the process going without any further delay.
The reports of Seemandhra leaders, including the Chief Minister, planning to defeat the Telangana resolution whenever it comes up before the Assembly, has angered the party chief and in fact strengthened her resolve to expedite the process of bifurcation, come what may.
Even the proposed set of assurances and package for the Seemandhra people has been kept aside for now as Sonia now has a single minded approach to see that the Telangana plan clears the procedural hurdles as quickly as possible.
The A K Antony Committee, formed by the Congress to look into the concerns of the Seemandhra region, is expected to submit its report by the end of this month.
"It will be a brief note like the July 30 CWC resolution on Telangana. It will be placed before the next cabinet meeting and will be cleared without any changes. The idea is to expedite preparation of the bill and get the Parliament approval," sources said.
The Chief Minister's remark that "the match is not complete till the last ball is bowled" has not gone down well with the party bosses in Delhi.
