Govt confident all parties will participate in Telangana meet

New Delhi, Jan 4 (PTI) Although TRS and BJP have
announced boycott of the meeting on Telangana, the Indian
government on Tuesday said it was confident that all eight
political parties of Andhra Pradesh will take part in the
January 6 deliberations.
"We have invited eight parties for the meeting and I am
confident that all the eight parties will attend it," Home
Minister P Chidambaram told reporters here.
Thursday's meeting was convened by Chidambaram following
the submission of Srikrishna committee report on Telangana.
Asked about the Telangana Rashtriya Samiti's allegation
that by inviting two representatives from each party, the
Centre was trying to seek divergent views, the Home Minister
said it was not correct to say that and the government invited
two representatives of each party following the same pattern
of January 5, 2010 meeting held to discuss the Telangana
issue.
"So, following the same pattern we have asked parties to
send two representatives. But it is open to a party to send
one representative," he said.
Chidambaram said based on last year's experience, merely
two persons representing a particular party did not mean that
two views were expressed.
"For example (on January 5, 2010 meeting) CPI, CPI(M),
BJP, TRS and MIM all expressed one view and I don't think that
is an issue and I sincerely hope that the TRS will participate
in the January 6 meeting. They may either send one or two
people. It is entirely up to them," he said.
Asked whether it was an embarrassment for the government
as two major parties have announced that they would not
participate in Thursday's meeting, Chidambaram said, "We will
wait to see what will happen on January 6."
The TRS on Sunday decided not to attend the January six
meeting in New Delhi, saying it was a "deliberate attempt" to
seek divergent opinions on the issue.
Echoing similar views, the BJP also said it will not
participate in the meeting. PTI