Telangana state endorsed by Congress Working Committee

Sharad Pawar of the NCP has indicated that the process for a new state could begin as soon as in this monsoon session of Parliament, which begins next week. The new state can come into being only after both Houses of Parliament have approved its creation.

The process is expected to be completed by early next year. The cabinet will share its plans with President Pranab Mukherjee and the Andhra Pradesh legislature will be asked for insights. The PM will then set up a committee to negotiate consensus between the leaders from the three regions of the state for issues like how to share revenue and water.

 Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, who met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister before the CWC meet, left before the announcement for Hyderabad. Mr Reddy is opposed to his state being split, but has reportedly been convinced not to resign.

The CWC met after the Congress's top leaders had held several meetings today to propitiate those in the party who are opposed to the bifurcation. They have shared with the leadership their worries about the likely fallout of today's decision. They fear not just protests of the kind witnessed earlier in the non-Telangana regions of Coastal Andhra and Rayalseema, but also that their voters will respond with retributive force.

But Congress ministers from these regions like Chiranjeevi and Pallam Raju have said that they will not resign in protest against today's decision.

The impetus for the big Telangana announcement comes from the fact that the national elections, in which the Congress will seek a third term in power, are just months away. Nearly half of the 42 parliamentary seats from Andhra Pradesh are housed in Telangana. So in making it a state, the Congress hopes to win big with voters.

 It has seen immediate gains from talks about a separate Telangana. In panchayat election results out in Andhra Pradesh today, the Congress has won 4,342 sarpanch posts and the Telugu Desam Party trails with 4,275.

Hyderabad, sources said, is likely to be a shared capital between the old and new state. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi or TRS, which has spearheaded the movement for a separate Telangana in the last few years, has however warned that there will be "severe resistance" against such a move. It has also opposed a proposal that two districts from the Rayalaseema region be affixed to the 10 districts that are known as the Telangana region. This will ensure that the new and old states have 21 parliamentary seats each, and, for the Congress, the political advantage that rival Jagan Mohan Reddy's stronghold will get divided across the new border.

Protests demanding a "united Andhra" have been intensifying in the Coastal Andhra and Rayalseema regionsa and the centre has sent additional paramilitary forces to the two regions. Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said today, "Law and order situation in Andhra Pradesh is absolutely fine." Central forces

The five-decade struggle for a Telangana state was forced onto the contemporary national agenda in 2009 by the TRS, headed by K Chandrasekhara Rao. He fasted for 10 days, triggering huge rallies of support. In response, in December 2009, in a surprise announcement, the Centre said it was sanctioning statehood. But within days, the government backtracked as violent protests erupted in the other two regions-Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema.