Hyderabad: Despite the presence of the Chief Ministers of both TS and AP in New Delhi on Tuesday, there was no headway on the much-awaited delimitation Bill to hike Assembly seats in the two states.
According to sources, when AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu met Union home minister Rajnath Singh over the issue, the latter conveyed to him that a political decision would be taken soon and it was likely that the Bill would be introduced in the winter session of Parliament.
This means that the Bill would not be introduced in the ongoing session that concludes on August 11.
Since it will take a minimum of six months for the delimitation commission to complete its task of identifying the constituencies with new boundaries, it would be prudent for the Cabinet to approve the Bill and introduce it in the ongoing Parliament session, Mr Naidu reportedly told the Union home minister.
Mr Singh in turn conveyed to Mr Naidu that it was only possible in next session of Parliament, according to sources.
Meanwhile, TRS sources said that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who met Mr Singh at his residence, only discussed the issue strengthening the police force in Telangana state and also sought funds for establishing various battalions in the state.
TRS sources said that the TS Chief Minister took DGP Anurag Sharma along with him to meet Mr Singh and they held discussions on issues related to the police department and not on delimitation.
The sources said that Mr Rao may meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his stay in New Delhi, most probably in the next couple of days where he will bring up the delimitation issue.
After meeting several Union ministers on Tuesday, Mr Naidu said that among other things, he also brought up the issue of delimitation of Assembly seats that was promised in the AP Reorganisation Act with Mr Singh.
Mr Naidu met the Union ministers before leaving for Amaravati later in the evening. Sources said he did not try to get an appointment with the Prime Minister.
