No special status for Telangana State, Andhra Pradesh in the amended AP Reorganisation Act

Hyderabad: The Centre will shortly amend the AP Reorganisation Act to rectify anomalies being pointed out by the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments.

Disclosing this to this newspaper on Friday evening, Union parliamentary affairs minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said, “We are trying our best to get the amendment passed in the current session. Otherwise it will be done in the Budget Session.”

He said he had already held consultations with former Union minister Jairam Ramesh and other floor leaders on the nature of amendments and they had all agreed to extend support.

This would be the first amendment to the Act after the sate was bifurcated on June 2, 2014. It was earlier amended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his first Cabinet meeting on May 28, bringing the seven mandals of Khammam district into residuary AP.

The amendments that are being contemplated are:

1. AP Legislative Council strength to go up from present 50 to 58 keeping the norm of one-third of the total 175 Assembly seats.

2. Telangana Legislative Council strength will remain at 40 but the discrepancies in the original Act and in the schedule will be amended.

3. Six present Rajya Sabha members (Renuka Chowdary, M.A. Khan, K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao, Jairam Ramesh, Devender Gowd, K. Kesava Rao and C.M. Ramesh) who originally belongs to AP and Telangana states but were subsequently allotted to different states in the draw of lots owing to the Bifurcation Act, will be adjusted to their native states for the purpose of spending their MPLADS funds; consequent to expiry of their terms, their seats will be accounted to the states they were allotted. Presently these six MPs are unable to spend the MPLADS in their native states due to their membership allotment to other state.

Though the amendments are intended to rectify the anomalies, if both the governments want any specific amendment to the Act, it will be positively considered. However, with regard to the central government’s assurance of granting special status to AP and Telangana states, which cannot be brought under the purview of the Act since it is for the National Development Council to consider.

“We have already given assurance on this, it will be done following due procedure,” Mr Venkaiah Naidu said.

However, it remains to be seen whether some more amendments are going to be suggested by the two states providing more teeth to the various monitoring committees constituted for distribution of Krishna and Godavari River waters and sharing of power.