Telangana Issue: Srikrishna Committee favours united Andhra

The Srikrishna Committee report released on Thursday by Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram apparently favours a unified Andhra Pradesh even as it offers five other options to resolve the impasse in the southern state. Creation of a separate Telangana state with Hyderabad as its capital and keeping Andhra Pradesh united with constitutional and statutory empowerment of Telangana are among the six options recommended by the Srikrishna Committee. The report of the five-member committee headed by former Supreme Court judge gave its recommendations after about 11 months of consultation process. The two-volume 461-page report also suggested maintaining status quo but added it was the least favoured option.
One of the option is to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh into two units - Telangana and Seemandhra - as per existing boundaries. Telangana will have Hyderabad as capital, while Seemandhra, comprising Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions, will have a new capital. Another option is to bifurcate the state into Seemandhra and Telangana with Hyderabad as a Union Territory (UT) and two separate capitals for the two states. Bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh into Rayala-Telangana and coastal Andhra with Hyderabad being an integral part of Rayala-Telangana is another option suggested by the panel.Yet another idea is to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh into Seemandhra and Telangana with enlarged Hyderabad Metropolis as a separate UT.