Telangana Bill in Parliament today; BJP wants discussion

New Delhi: Notwithstanding opposition from Seemandhra leaders, the government is planning to pass the Telangana Bill through the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. While the government wants it to be passed without a discussion, the BJP is against it.

With the Telangana Bill likely to be taken up for consideration in the Lok Sabha, BJP made it clear that it will press for a discussion on the crucial legislation as it wants the concerns of Seemandhra region to be properly addressed.

Government tried to reach out to the main Opposition party but it maintained it has not given any assurance or commitment on the issue and will not allow the bill to be passed in the din. Congress has issued a whip asking all its members to be present in the Lok Sabha and vote in favour of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, which seeks to create a Telangana state. BJP apprehends that the ruling party might get the bill passed in the din without holding a proper discussion and without taking care of the concerns of Seemandhra region.

"We have not given any assurance to the government on the passage of the Bill. We have told them that the concerns of Seemandhra region be addressed first and hold an in-depth discussion on the bill after bringing the House and Congress MPs in order. BJP has not given any commitment to the government," BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu told PTI.

During the meeting of its senior BJP leaders with Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, the Opposition party asked the government to put its own house in order and address the concerns of the Seemandhra region while cautioning it not to pass the bill amid din and without a discussion.

"We are for Telangana but the concerns of the Seemandhra region must also be addressed simultaneously and Congress should first put its own house in order," Naidu said on what he conveyed to the minister during the meeting. "We told Congress to create a proper atmosphere for passage of the bill. We also asked Congress not to pass the bill amid the din as proper discussion is required before the bifurcation of a state and creation of a new state," he said.


Don't disrupt House: House
Seemandhra leaders, who have been opposing the Bill in the Parliament, have been told not to disrpt House. Five Union ministers from Andhra Pradesh's Seemandhra today met BJP leader L K Advani to seek his party's support for a package for the region following the decision to create a separate Telangana state, and were asked by the latter not to protest over the issue in Parliament.

The Congress ministers were accompanied by BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu during the meeting at Advani's residence this morning. During the 25-minute meeting, the Union ministers urged Advani to support a handsome package for Seemandhra to ensure its all-round development in the coming years.

During the meeting, Advani told the ministers not to defy parliamentary traditions by protesting in the Well of the House and to maintain decorum. Union ministers K S Rao (Textiles), M M Pallam Raju (Human Resource Development), Purandeshwari (Minister of State for Commerce and Industry), Chiranjeevi (Tourism) and Kruparani Killi (Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology) were present in the meeting, but Union Minister of State for Finance J D Seelam could not attend it as he was busy with interim budget, sources said.

The ministers also raised objections to the manner in which the Telangana bill was brought up in the Lok Sabha, and complained about "selective" suspension of MPs from the state for protesting against the legislation. After the meeting, Advani is learnt to have briefed his party colleagues -- Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her Rajya Sabha counterpart Arun Jaitley -- on the demands raised by the Congress ministers. Speaking on the development, Naidu later said the fact that Congress ministers meeting opposition leaders and seeking their support to their demands "speaks volumes of the current situation and the confusion created by the ruling party".

While BJP supports creation of a separate state of Telangana, it is opposed to the passage of the bill amid din in the Lok Sabha

A meeting with Rahul Gandhi

As the government hopes to pass the Telangana Bill in Lok Sabha tomorrow, AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi today met Seemandhra Ministers and MPs to elicit their views over the contentious bill.

The meeting with Gandhi comes on a day when five union ministers from Seemandhra met BJP leader L K Advani to seek his party's support for a package for their region in the event of division of Andhra Pradesh to carve out Telangana.

Gandhi had invited the ministers and MPs for the meeting, Minister of State for Finance J D Seelam claimed. Emerging from the late evening meeting, Seelam told reporters that several key issues, including Union Territory status for Hyderabad for a temporary period, was deliberated. The Minister said merger of two districts in Rayalaseema region such as Ananthapur and Kurnool with Telangana and financial issues also figured in the meeting.

"We are confident that the people of both the regions will be happy with the outcome..... Telugu people should be happy," he added.