UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi is committed to Telangana and is scared of going back on it. The issue however has become too complicated to be decided in a jiffy. Even in this catch-22 situation, there is a strong ‘someone’ in her inner circle who is pushing her towards a separate Telangana. Who is that?

It is Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and his widely-believed staunch resolve to see Andhra Pradesh broken into pieces. Taking the developments since his first statement on Telangana a few months ago, it is all too evident that the union home minister is more interested in Telangana than the Telnaganites themselves.

Chidambaram’s first statement announcing Telangana was a collective decision of the government. Still it was seen as a hasty step for not taking the sentiments of other regions into confidence.

His flip-flop on Telangana and Tamil Nadu glaringly exposed his hypocrisy on the issue of smaller states: He advocates carving Telangana out of Andhra Pradesh but nips in the bud the suggestions on separate statehood to southern Tamil Nadu.

Not just this. Chidambaram is believed to be instrumental in getting Justice Sri Krishna to head the expert committee that was eventually announced on Wednesday. The pro-Telangana groups are visibly happy to see the presence of Justice Sri Krishna because they perceived him to be pro-Telangana.

The core committee on Telangana had mulled various options over the last few months. There were reportedly some occasions when the think-tank wondered about dragging the issue further. The home minister however managed to keep the issue alive all through finally making sure that Justice Sri Krishna is appointed to the committee.