Ahead of the Fifteenth Lok Sabha’s last session that will commence on February 5, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday held a series of meetings with leaders of regional parties to mobilise support for the controversial Telangana Bill.
Mr. Rao met Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad, Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan and Janata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav.to seek their support. TRS sources said all three leaders had responded positively to their appeal. “The meetings are part of our party’s drive to get support from other political parties for the passage of the Telangana Bill in Parliament. Our leader is also slated to meet BJP president Rajnath Singh and BSP chief Mayawati for the purpose tomorrow,” a senior TRS leader said.
With Parliament session scheduled to start on Wednesday, a slew of leaders from Andhra Pradesh are expected to descend on the national Capital: they include Telugu Desam supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu, who is scheduled to meet President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday, AP Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy who has been opposing the division of the State: he is likely to hold a protest at Shakti Sthal, the memorial to Indira Gandhi. Against this backdrop, three senior Union Ministers — Sushilkumar Shinde, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Jairam Ramesh — are also likely to meet the President on Monday to brief him on the political situation in Andhra Pradesh and the continuing turmoil there.
On Monday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath is slated to hold his customary meeting with Opposition leaders ahead of the session, where he will seek support for the government’s agenda: this will include not just the vote-on-account, but the Telangana Bill and the slew of pending anti-graft Bills.
