Cracks in Seemandhra group in run-up to T-Bill

A number of senior Ministers, including PCC president Botcha Satyanaryana, distance themselves from Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy’s consultations.

It is anticipated that the day the Bill is passed, Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy might resign and announce the formation of a new party. File Photo: Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar

Congress leaders from Telangana and Seemandhra attended hectic meetings on Saturday ahead of a possible debate on the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2013, in the Lok Sabha next week. But the focus is on the Bharatiya Janata Party, which had made its support for the Bill conditional on order in the House.

The Lok Sabha is likely to take up the Bill for debate on Tuesday. It is anticipated that the day the Bill is passed, Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy might resign and announce the formation of a new party. It is expected that some Ministers, MPs and MLAs will join him.

But cracks emerged in the Seemandhra group, with a number of senior Ministers, including Pradesh Congress Committee president Botcha Satyanaryana, distancing themselves from Mr. Reddy’s consultations.

A meeting of Union Ministers, MPs and elected representatives from Seemandhra is scheduled for Sunday.

Delhi is set to turn into a protest venue, with the YSR Congress calling for a demonstration at Jantar Mantar on Monday and the Samaikya Rashtra Parirakshana Vedika planning a rally on the Ramlila Maidan on February 18. Eight special trains carrying pro-Andhra Pradesh activists left from different parts of Seemandhra.

In Visakhapatnam, BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu did not give any definite indication of what his party’s stand in the House would be, even though the suspension of 16 Seemandhra MPs for creating a ruckus in the House could create conditions for order in the House. At a press conference, he only said that the division of the State was inevitable, and at the same time, called for the protection of Seemandhra’s interests.

“We demand a scientific and just division and judicious distribution of water, etc., and acceptance of the Finance Commission proposals on making up the revenue loss for Seemandhra, concessions for Uttarandhra, Rayalaseema and backward areas of Telangana,” Mr. Naidu said.

After Thursday’s chaos in the Lok Sabha, senior BJP leader L.K. Advani had said the government should not consider any business other than the vote-on-account.

The BJP has said it is upset over the manner in which the government introduced the Bill. It says rules of procedure were not followed.