A day after Andhra Pradesh Assembly rejected the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2013, Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Friday appeared confident that the Telangana statehood Bill would be passed in the coming session of Parliament that begins on February 5.
“The Bill will be passed. There will be no problem,” Mr. Shinde told journalists here. He said the Union government had not received the Bill from the Andhra Pradesh Assembly. He also denied seeking legal opinion from the Attorney-General.
The GoM, set up to look into the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, is likely to meet here on February 4 to consider ‘minor’ amendments in the Bill and give a final view, paving the way for its introduction in Parliament.
Well placed sources said the Home Ministry had also written to the Prime Minister’s Office, dismissing the contention of Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy that the Bill was “not comprehensive.”
Once the Bill reaches the President Pranab Mukherjee from the Assembly along with the resolution adopted by it, it would be sent to the Union Home Ministry.
Official sources insisted that the basic parameters of bifurcation as approved by the Union Cabinet in December would remain.
“The Andhra Pradesh Assembly members had proposed 9,000-odd amendments to the Bill. There is no scope for considering any amendment which will alter the basic aspects of the original Bill,” they maintained adding that the decision of the Assembly was not binding on the Union Government.
Since the residual session of winter session of Parliament that is scheduled to go on till February 21 (essentially meant to obtain a vote on account before the general election) would effectively have only ten sittings, the window available to the government to see through the Bill is very narrow.
