The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K. Chandrasekhar Rao called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Tuesday seeking changes in the provisions of A.P. Reorganisation Bill, 2013, which were against the interests of Telangana.
Mr. Rao led a 40-member delegation to the Prime Minister comprising party’s legislators, MPs and senior leaders and submitted a memorandum seeking 13 changes in the Bill. Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao was learnt to have a one-on-one meeting with the Prime Minister for few minutes after he spoke to the delegation.
The changes sought by TRS include the provisions on Governor’s control on law and order in the common capital, distribution of employees and pensioners based on their origin instead of population-based, keeping headquarters of the regulatory board on sharing the river waters of Krishna in Hyderabad among others.
Speaking to mediapersons after the meeting, the TRS chief said the former had promised that the government was committed on creating Telangana State under any circumstances.
Meanwhile, Telangana Congress leaders including Ministers, MPs and legislators had a 45-minute meeting with Union Minister Jairam Ramesh, a member of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on Telangana, before the GoM meeting. B. Kamalakar Rao stated that Mr. Jairam Ramesh had assured them that the Bill to be introduced in Parliament would address all their concerns. They also had a meeting with another Union Minister Vayalar Ravi. “Our MPs will move amendments if our demands are not met in the Bill”, he said.
The Telangana Congress leaders would stage a silent protest on Wednesday at a venue to be finalised late in the night. They had planned the protest at Raj Ghat initially but a German leader’s visit had made them to change it.