HYDERABAD: After the hectic consultations on the Telangana issue on Saturday, Congress heavyweights took it easy on Sunday but back channel efforts continued to weigh the fallout of a decision either way.Sunday’s discussions were centred around the opposition from Seemandhra Congress leaders to any move to bifurcate the state.The Congress party’s AP general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad had another hour-long meeting with PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana and chief troubleshooter Pranab Mukherjee met Seemandhra leader and Eluru MP Kavuri Sambasiva Rao Sunday evening. Sources said Satyanarayana has been asked to assess the vehemence of opposition to bifurcation among Seemandhra leaders.Accordingly, he carried out such confabulations with several Seemandhra leaders present in the national capital.These leaders, including anti-bifurcation hardliner Lagadapati Rajagopal, met at Kavuri’s residence before the latter’s meeting with Mukherjee.Apparently, the meeting discussed the points to be lobbed at the high command to deter it from entertaining the idea of bifurcation.The Congress’ intra-party consultations are set to conclude on Monday with a round of interviews with Seemandhra leaders.Kavuri has emerged as the person who has been chosen to present the anti-bifurcation view.Actor-politician Chiranjeevi too will be heard Monday.Sources did not rule out high command summons for some Telangana Congress leaders to complete the consultations.These leaders too were busy late Sunday evening, meeting at the residence of Rajya Sabha MP K Keshava Rao in Hyderabad to rehearse their responses in case they are called.Sources close to the nine leaders interviewed on Saturday said the high command functionaries’ questions on Telangana were nothing new and very generic in nature.These included queries oft-asked: ‘what’s the severity of the Telangana strike’, ‘what are the implications if there is a bifurcation’ and ‘how do you view the situation’.The interviwers did not ask specific questions relating to the calculations of Jagan Mohan Reddy and other political actors, but were supplied such information by the respondents themselves.One of them is said to have told the mini core committee that the real purpose of the Telangana strike is to bring down the Kiran Kumar Reddy government.The chief minister kept himself busy Sunday by receiving ministerial colleagues -- Sabitha Indra Reddy, Pitani Satyanarayana, K Parthasarathy, D K Aruna -- each eager to know the proceedings of his session with central heavyweights
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