Solution to Telangana at the earliest: Azad

HYDERABAD: Without dropping even the slightest hint on what the Congress is thinking on the T issue, AICC general secretary and Union minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Sunday made an appeal to the striking Telangana employees to call off their agitation.Replying to questions at a news conference in Delhi, Azad said the T issue would be resolved as soon as possible after taking into consideration the interests of not only Telangana region, but also of the state and the nation. “I am making an appeal to the employees on behalf of the Congress and the Central government to call off the strike since the agitation is causing suffering to the people of Telangana region,” he said.Azad, after conferring with chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, made the appeal to the T employees, urging them to keep in view the difficulties people would face in the festival season.This apart, as the state requires to pump a large amount of money into welfare schemes in the months from December to March, employees’ strike would only stand in the way, he said.Underscoring the need for speeding up the process of development, he said the employees should call off their strike immediately.“Already development is suffering.It should not be allowed to suffer further,” he said.Asked when the party would resolve the T issue, Azad said he could not give any specific time frame.“I cannot say if it will be done before or after the winter session of Parliament.I do not want to say when because the employees under the impression that the issue is going to be resolved in a matter of days, are continuing the strike, causing a lot of hardships to the people,” he said, adding that the chief minister, after returning to Hyderabd will take steps to persuade the employees to call off their strike.Azad said he had almost completed the process of consultations in the Congress and only discussions at the national level remained.“We have already come a long way,” he said.