Telangana not possible: Azad

July 12: Maintaining that a decision on formation of Telangana state cannot be taken without consensus among legislators of all regions of Andhra Pradesh, the Union health minister, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, on Tuesday said the issue cannot move an "inch" without the State Assembly passing a unanimous resolution.
"Telangana is a burning issue. I cannot deny that fact," Mr Azad, who is also the general secretary of the Congress, told the media here. Azad is here to attend the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) health ministers' conference. "While there are deep sentiments close to everyone's heart in Telangana, there are also sentiments in Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions of Andhra Pradesh. So unless we take everybody on board it will be very difficult to decide on the issue," he said.
"The most important thing is that, while we have sympathy for the sentiments of the people of Telangana and respect the sentiments of people of Telangana, for the division of any state we need total consensus," he said. Unless there is a consensus and full cooperation from the legislators of Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, a resolution cannot be passed, Mr ghulam Nabi Azad said. "If we have to do this, we have to pass a unanimous resolution. Unless a unanimous resolution is passed, we cannot move one inch," he said.