Didn't Discuss Telangana With President: Shinde

Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Thursday clarified that there were no plans to hold an all-party meeting on the separate Telangana issue in the near future.

Talking to reporters after meeting President Pranab Mukherjee, Shinde said that the issue of Telangana was not being discussed by the Centre at this moment. He even said there is no possibility of conducting an all-party meet on the subject in the near future.

He said that he had briefed the President about the law and order situation in Jammu and Kashmir, which he had visited recently, and that Telangana did not figure in the discussion.

Earlier, as soon as Shinde started for Rashtrapati Bhavan, there were speculations that he would discuss the Telangana issue with the President. The speculations were primarily based on the fact that Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy had met Central leaders in New Delhi a day before, and that on Thursday morning, former PCC president D Srinivas met Sonia Gandhi in Delhi.

However, a few minutes later, Shinde himself issued his clarification. (INN)