New Delhi:
As the Telangana agitation entered its 26th day, Congress top brass tonight held hectic consultations on the ticklish statehood issue, ahead of Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L Narasimhan's meetings with Central leaders on the situation in the state.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the main trouble-shooter of the government, had separate meetings with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi on the Telangana issue.
Later, Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister A K Antony and Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who is also the Congress General Secretary in-charge of the state, met Mukherjee to discuss the issue.
After the meeting, Mr Mukherjee said that discussions were "going on" and the government "needs time".
(Watch)Azad, who has prepared a report on the Telangana issue after talks with party leaders of all three regions of the state, had met Gandhi on Wednesday to brief her about the issue.
The meeting came as Narasimhan arrived here for talks with Central leaders. Sources in Hyderabad Raj Bhawan had yesterday said that Narasimhan would meet Singh and Chidambaram during his visit.
During the meetings, he is also expected to present a report on the ground situation in the state, particularly in the Telangana region, in the light of the ongoing general strike by a cross-section of people.
The strike has taken a violent turn in the past few days with incidents like burning of buses and attack on passengers.
Congress leaders from the region and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K Chandrashekar Rao had recently met Singh separately demanding an "early resolution" to the issue.
Rao had rejected Singh's appeal to call off the strike, saying it would not be done until the Centre announces the formation of a separate state with a time frame.