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| Telangana haunts holidaying politicos but not Farooq | | |
ABID SHAH
NEW DELHI, JAN 1: The raging passions over Statehood for Telangana is driving the higher ups back to Delhi from their holiday destinations, often shortening their new-year break from work.
This is more so since an all party meeting is billed for Tuesday (January 5) to discuss the issue of Telangana which sharply divides opinion far down South in Andhra Pradesh and, thus been causing anxious moments for the powers-that-be in Delhi.
Among other things this has taken its toll upon President Pratibha Patil’s official break from work as she cancelled her winter holidays earlier set to be spent in Hyderabad.
Those managing her engagements must be thanking their stars since even Telangana crisis was dwarfed by the Andhra Governor’s episode who went to Dehradun home putting in his papers that Patil accepted towards the last days of just gone by year from Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi in the wake of the outrage over Governor’s bizarre escapades.
Yet such year-end absurdities have not deterred politicos from taking their year-end break to ring in the new-year from their favourite destinations. Many among them are expected to be back in the Capital in the wake of next week’s all-party meeting on Telangana called by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and her son and AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi are expected to be back to Delhi from their holiday to be here before the day of the all-party confabulations over Telangana. Sonia Gandhi is reported to be taking a break in Goa with her family since new-year eve. Like her the Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee too is supposed to be back here from his West Bengal home.
Yet there are certain prominent figures that may not be required so urgently to be in the Capital for the crucial Telangana parleys. And among them is the Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah. He is reported to be in Andmans to usher in the new-year along with his family, staff and a few friends.
Only the other day his son and Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah presented a crucial report related to the greater autonomy for the border State run under his stewardship to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his South Block office here. And since Jammu and Kashmir is better overseen by New Delhi than Andhra Pradesh no such urgency is called for as an all party meeting being held in case of Andhra though the BJP and others have a different view on Mr Justice Saiyed Saghir Ahmad report on J&K autonomy.
Farooq Abdullah can well also be cool about vacationing on the new-year since peers like Dayanidhi Maran, Ambika Soni and Kapil Sibal are many more seas away in USA, Europe and Lebanon to ring in the new year through what may also fall in the category what can be called as official or certainly not so unofficial business.
The lesser lights from the privileged power circuit of Delhi have to be content with visiting their constituencies or their home States. This includes many among the opposition or non-Congress constituents of UPA. The new BJP president is at homestead in Maharashtra and so is Laloo Yadav in Patna as a new year emerges from the shadows of not so lucky 2009 for their parties to say the least.
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