New Delhi, December 2: As the Centre continued wide consultations on Monday, fine-tuning the contours of the proposed Telangana state, a senior Union Minister said the Bill was ready and would be cleared by the Group of Ministers (GoM), which will meet on Tuesday evening.
However, the Minister, who did not wish to be named, said “no comments,” asked about the Rayala-Telangana issue. Highly placed government sources said: “Very wide consultations” were held on working out the finer details of how to go about the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. The Minister did not comment if two districts of Rayalseema (Kurnool and Anantpur) would be included in the proposed Telangana State. “You will have to wait for the recommendations of the GoM. which will submit its report to the Union Cabinet,” highly placed government sources said.
However, there was no finality on the plan for inclusion Anantapur and Kurnool into the 10 districts that form part of Telangana to constitute a Rayala-Telangana state.
The GoM will send the final report to the Union Cabinet for consideration and approval of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill. Once it is approved, the Bill will be sent to President Pranab Mukherjee. He in turn will refer it to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly. However, the Assembly’s approval is not mandatory for the Centre to go ahead with introduction of the Bill.
A senior Union Minister, who did not wish to be named, told The Hindu that the proposal for inclusion of two districts from Rayalaseema into the proposed Telangana was not without issues. “Had the proposal been cleared by the Congress Working Committee in its July 30 resolution in favour of the creation of Telangana, we could have pushed through the idea without difficulty; bringing it up at this stage could lead to complications. We are not sure if the proposal would have the approval of the BJP, because without its support we cannot get the Constitution Amendment Bill through both Houses of Parliament.”
Speaking on informal terms, a senior BJP leader indicated that any major deviation in the creation of Telangana would entail a rethink on the party. As things stand now, the BJP is committed to creation of Telangana, without Anantpur and Kurnool districts.
According to another Union Minister, sections of Seemandhra are not averse to inclusion of the two districts in the proposed State as it would automatically disqualify Kurnool as a possible capital of Seemandhra. “If the Centre decides to include two more districts of Rayalaseema in the proposed State of Telangana, the fate of the Bill is likely to be decided only in Parliament. The BJP might insist on moving a resolution, excluding the two districts, and as a bargaining point the Government could accept it.”
The GoM is also likely to consider issues in the grant of a special status to both States under Article 371(D), highly placed sources in the government said.
The issue of Hyderabad remains contentious, as Seemandhra leaders are demanding protection for the lives and property of their people settled in Hyderabad after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
Meanwhile, the government has said it will try to bring the Bill in the winter session of Parliament, which will be held from December 5 to 20.
1 Comment
i think it was a big process to include the Kurnool and Anantpur in Telungana……if it is added it may be raise some caste issues