Hyderabad: The union home ministry has invited nine political parties from Andhra Pradesh for an all-party meeting on Telangana scheduled to be held Dec 28 in New Delhi.
Ignoring the demand from some Telangana parties and leaders of Congress and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) that one representative from each party be invited, the parties have been asked to nominate two representatives each.
A ministry letter said a number of representations were made by MPs to restart the dialogue on Telangana. The letter from K. Skandan, additional secretary in the ministry of home affairs, was received by the parties Wednesday.
Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has clearly rejected the demand of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy to postpone the meeting in view of World Telugu Conference at Tirupati Dec 27-29.
The ministry has invited Congress, TDP, YSR Congress Party, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) and Lok Satta for the meet.
Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) chairman M. Kodandaram said irrespective of the number of representatives invited from each party, all parties should take a clear stand on the issue.
While representatives from Telangana wanted separate statehood to the region, those from Andhra and Rayalaseema opposed bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
The Congress, TDP, YSR Congress party and Lok Satta have not yet taken a clear stand on Telangana. The TRS, BJP and CPI are demanding separate Telangana state while CPI-M and MIM are opposed to it. (IANS)