Telangana leaders in the state continue to declare that they will accept nothing short of a separate Telangana, and the All India Congress Committee (AICC) insists on giving them anything but the T statehood.
With the political situation in West Bengal in view, where their ally Mamata Banerjee assumed office recently after achieving a
landslide victory during the Legislative Assembly elections, the Congress High Command has developed cold feet about the Telangana issue.
The Congress fears that conceding the Telangana demand would result in a full-fledged uprising in West Bengal over the demand for a separate Gorkhaland state.
According to sources, the Congress High Command intends to placate Telangana agitators by offering the region a political and an economical package.
The political package includes offering the post of the Deputy CM to a politico hailing from the Telangana region. This move, the AICC explained, would balance the effect of Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy.
Those gathered also reportedly unanimously agreed that the CM does not appear to exercise any control over the political turmoil in the state.
The economic package includes the awarding of the National Project status to both Pranahita-Chevella and Polavaram irrigation projects.
The AICC itself is reportedly skeptic if the packages offered will water down the Telangana agitation, but this is the only option they are willing to consider, as bowing down to the demands for the Telangana statehood would adversely affect the Congress' stand in other regions of the country.