Telangana ball in President's court
NEW DELHI: Union Home Ministry is not in favour of granting a month-long extension of the deadline for Andhra Pradesh Assembly to debate the draft Telangana bill.
Responding to a letter sent by the Andhra Pradesh government seeking an additional four weeks' time for completion of the debate, the Home Ministry officials have forwarded the letter to the President Pranab Mukherjee for his final decision.
However, the MHA has recommended that a month-long extension would not be feasible under the present circumstances. It may be recalled that the President, while referring the draft AP Reorganisation Bill, 2013, to the Assembly, had set January 23 as the deadline for the House to complete the debate and return the bill along with opinion.
Highly placed sources in the Home Ministry said that they had received the request letter from the Kiran Kumar Reddy government for extension of time as the Assembly had not been able to discuss various clauses of the bill threadbare and more time was needed to get a view from the cross-section of elected representatives.
In Hyderabad, sources confirmed that Chief Secretary P K Mohanty had sent the letter, at the behest of Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, to the Home Ministry seeking four weeks for extension on debating Telangana draft bill.
The Chief Secretary conveyed the same to Panchayat Raj Minister K Jana Reddy, who called him to find out whether there was any such letter from the State government. Mohanty also told Jana Reddy that he would send a letter if Telangana leaders wanted requesting that there was no need for any extension.
The Home Ministry, while leaving the final decision to the President, has written clearly that a month's extension would be out of question. At the same time, sources agreed that there was scope for discussion and 'some' extension could be possible.
This indicates a window of bargaining. Sources refused to discuss how much time was possible though. There are already questions being raised over the fate of the Telangana bill, despite the Centre's repeated assurances that it would be passed by the Parliament next month.
With just two more days to go before the deadline expires, the Centre is hard-pressed to fulfill its commitment. The Parliament session is likely to begin on Feb 5 and will have ten working days.
It will be a herculean task for the UPA government to push through the Telangana bill during this period when vote-on-account and Railway budgets are to be passed.
News Posted: 21 January, 2014
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