Srikrishna panel submits Telangana report, Chidambaram hopes for peace (Second Lead)

NEW DELHI - The Srikrishna panel report on Telangana has been submitted to the Home Ministry and would be made public Jan 6, Home Minister P. Chidambaram said Thursday and hoped that the present atmosphere of peace will continue in Andhra Pradesh.

Making a statement after the report was submitted to his ministry, Chidambaram said that a meting of eight recognised political parties from the state will be called Jan 6 after which the report will be made public.

Justice B.N. Srikrishna, the retired Supreme Court judge who headed the panel to look into the demands for separate statehood to Telangana, handed over the report to Chidambaram in his chamber at North Block at about 3 p.m.

Heavy security arrangements had been made in Andhra Pradesh in anticipation of the report being presented.

Chidambaram said that security forces in the state will remain in their headquarters as a reserve force.

“I am confident that the present atmosphere will continue to prevail. I do not see the need to deploy forces,” he said.

He said people of the state should look to the future.

Chidambaram also urged the media to highlight the panel report in a fair, impartial way after it is made public.

Speaking to reporters, former Home Secretary V.K. Duggal, who was a member of the panel, said the report was in two volumes and had “covered all issues”.

Answeing a query, he said the report has “given the way forward”. He said the report will also be available on internet after it is made public.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh discussed the issue of a separate Telangana state with his senior ministers Wednesday ahead of the impending report of the panel that examined the contentious demand that has created sharp political divisions in Andhra Pradesh.

The Srikrishna committee was set up in February to study, among other things, the situation in Andhra Pradesh following protests for a separate Telangana state and the counter-protests that paralysed the state.

The committee met over 100 groups including political parties, intellectuals, politicians and retired bureaucrats and visited all the 23 districts of the state.

Earlier, the Andhra government Tuesday withdrew all the criminal cases filed during protests for and against a separate Telangana state.