NEW DELHI: The Centre is set to give a final push to the formation of Telangana after the end of the monsoon session of Parliament on Friday, with Union Cabinet's decision to divide Andhra Pradesh opening the door for a flurry of action on the fraught issue. 

Sources said the Cabinet will attest the Congress decision by formally deciding on a proposal from the home ministry for creation of the new state. It will be accompanied by the constitution of a group of ministers, likely to be headed by defence minister A K Antony, to draft the legislation for statehood. 

Also, the Cabinet will forward a resolution to the Andhra Pradesh assembly seeking its nod. The assembly assent is not mandatory and Congress is firm on going ahead with statehood irrespective of how the bitterly divided state House reacts to the resolution. 

Sources said the process will not be protracted like the formation of Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand in 2000, and may be clinched before the year-end. An optimistic senior leader said, "There will be two chief ministers by November-end." 

The Congress Working Committee's decision last month triggered a wave of protests in Coastal Andhra, largely because Hyderabad would be in Telangana and would be a shared capital till Andhra finds an alternative. But the ruling camp is undeterred by the hostility and is no mood to do a volte face like December 2009. 

The move for Telangana is dictated by concerns over the party's prospects in 2014, given the challenges of Jaganmohan Reddy's rebellion, statehood and anti-incumbency. 

Congress hopes statehood will give it an upper hand in Telangana that accounts for 17 Lok Sabha seats and could go up to 21 seats if two districts of Rayalaseema are included in it. 

The gambit to cut its losses by winning over Telangana appears to make sense given the dire straits the party otherwise would be in united Andhra. 

The bid to clinch statehood before the year-end would test the ruling camp. A strong section of non-Telangana bloc has aired concern that migrants would be vulnerable in Hyderabad which accounts for the maximum settler population and would fall in Telangana. 

Sources said the Centre is likely to create a mechanism by which law and order in Hyderabad would be under the jurisdiction of the Centre till the capital is shared. 

The challenge before the ministerial panel headed by Antony would be the division of water and power assets, intractable issues between states nationally. But sources said it was unlikely to take much time. "There is a formula that is followed by all states," a leader said. 

Congress believes it would manage to quell the challenge from Telangana Rashtra Samithi if the latter does not tie up and is focussed on how the post-T situation evolves in Coastal region where YSR Congress has come out strongly against division after initial indications that it would stay neutral. 

While even Congress MPs and ministers from Coastal region are opposed to statehood, they are mostly concerned about the handing of Hyderabad to the new state. Sources said a handsome relief package to Andhra state for creation of capital would help douse the anger among people.

HYDERABAD: Even days after West Bengal chief minister Mamatha Banerjee called up YSR Congress honourary president YS Viajayalakashmi inviting her party to form a Federal Front at the national level, the Jagan party could not take a call. This is because heart of the jailed Jaganmohan Reddy-led YSRCP is in the Congress, as political watchers say. 

"We are right now busy in the ongoing panchayat elections. And to take a call on the national politics now, it is too early. We will sit together after the panchayat polls which would end this month-end, and discuss Mamatha's proposal," said M V Mysoora Reddy, a senior leader of YSR Congress. 

However, insiders in the YSR Congress said the party was weighing the options cautiously and a general feeling was that joining hands with the Congress is a safer bet than going along with the maverickTrinamool Congress chief. 

"Given her temperament and level of maturity, any alliance with Mamatha would be volatile. We just want to say her thanks, and move on with more serious political plans for the future," said an YSR Congress leader who is also an MLA. 

Mamatha Banerjee had called Vijayamma on Sunday and invited YSR Congress for a preliminary talks aiming at forming the Federal Front alternative to Congress and BJP. And she is understood to have shown a sense of urgency as she was expecting snap polls for the parliament in November, while the general elections are due for May next year. 

She said to have asked Vijayamma to take up the proposal with her son Jagan Reddy, who currently imprisoned in Chanchalguda Jail as an under trail in connections with his illegal assets cases. 

However, YSR Congress did not do anything on the proposal as the party celebrated the birth anniversary of the late former chief minister and Jagan Reddy's father YS Rajshekar Reddy on Monday. Although, the family members spoke to Jagan on Monday, Mamatha's proposal was not the focus. 

Although there are two other regional parties in Andhra Pradesh namely Telugu Desam Party(TDP) and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Mamatha preferred YSR Congress because she felt the party had more electoral potential. However, Jagan's party has chosen to take time as it is curiously watching the developments in the Congress. 

When AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh visited Hyderabad last week after he took charge as the in-charge of AP affairs from Gulam Nabi Azad, he created ripple by saying the YSR Congress has Congress DNA in it. 

The political watchers said Digvijay Singh's words had great political significance and the wily politician was just indicating the possibility of an alliance between the Congress and YSR Congress while the simultaneous polls for AP state assembly and parliament are around the corner. 

The speculations are, in fact, that Digvijay Singh has been brought in place of Azad just to cobble up a political partnership between the Congress and YSR Congress as the former Madhya Pradeshchief minister is seen to be close to YSR family. 

It is to be seen how Digvijay Singh known for his uncanny knacks would turnaround the AP politics to bring the Congress and YSR Congress closer when Jagan Reddy's supporters are blaming Sonia Gandhi for her vindictive politics because of which their leader is serving a jail term.