Hyderabad: In a twist to the enhancement of Assembly seats in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh through an amendment to the Delimitation Bill, BJP national president Amit Shah on Tuesday summoned BJP leaders from both the Telugu states for a meeting in Delhi. This was to discuss with them before talks with the TD leaders.
As a result, his proposed meeting with Telugu Desam leaders Sujana Chowdary and Thota Narasimham on Tuesday was postponed. Ever since the delimitation proposal was under consideration of the Central government, Mr Shah was on the lookout for how this would benefit the BJP in both the states.
Since there was political pressure from both Chief Ministers K. Chandrasekhar Rao and N. Chandrababu Naidu for fresh delimitation, Mr Shah decided to seek view of BJP leaders from both the states.
TS BJP president Dr K. Laxman confirmed on Tues-day evening about the summoning of leaders to Delhi. He said a delegation of state BJP leaders, including himself and Legislature Party leader G. Kishen Reddy and others would meet Amit Shah on February 1 in Delhi. The Central BJP office in Delhi has also confirmed summoning AP BJP leaders.
Owing to the enhancement of Assembly seats in Telangana, the total strength would go up to 153 from 119 seats and in Andhra Pradesh to 225 from 175.
Mr Shah would seek the views of his party leaders before recommending the proposal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
If the whole exercise is completed soon, it was likely that the Bill to amend Section 26 of the AP Reorganisation Act would be introduced in the current Budget session, sources said.
