Union Cabinet approves Telangana Bill
New Delhi: The controversial bill that creates Telangana, India's 29th state, by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh, has been cleared by the Cabinet, which means it will next be sent to the President and will then presented in Parliament.
The Congress-led central government is determined to push the legislation through before this session of Parliament - the last before the national election - ends on February 21.
To propitiate its leaders from Seemandhra, the part of the state that opposes bifurcation, the cabinet has agreed to grant special financial packages to backward areas.
However, it has turned down Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy's demand to make Hyderabad, the prosperous IT hub, a union territory with its revenues divided between Telangana and Seemandhra.
Under the plan cleared today, Hyderabad will be a shared capital for 10 years between the old and new states, after which it will belong to Telangana.
The decision to divide Andhra Pradesh has in many ways been a case of political over-reach for the ruling Congress. Kiran Kumar Reddy and other Congressmen who are not from Telangana have stridently opposed the blueprint. The chief minister embarrassed the party by staging a protest in the heart of Delhi this week; some union ministers from Andhra Pradesh joined him.
In a last ditch effort, he also met President Pranab Mukherjee and urged him to "use his powers" to stop the bifurcation of the state. Last week, Mr Reddy had led the Andhra Pradesh state legislature in rejecting the Telangana bill.
Parliament has seen persistent disruptions over issue ever since it convened on Wednesday, imperiling other important legislation.
Politicians like Chief Minister Reddy, who are fighting the bifurcation, belong to "Seemandhra", the two regions that will form the residuary state. The 10 districts that make up Telangana have for decades complained that the area's resources are unfairly exploited by Seemandhra.
A group of ministers had cleared the draft bill earlier this week after making a few minor procedural and technical changes.
News Posted: 7 February, 2014
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