Editorial
The bill for formation of separate Telangana state reached Andhra Pradesh assembly Thursday evening, officials said.
A senior official of the union home ministry reached Hyderabad along with the draft Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill 2013 by a special aircraft, and handed over the bill to a senior legislature official as well as the also chief secretary.
Suresh Kumar, joint secretary in the ministry, drove to the assembly and handed over the bill to legislature secretary Raja Sadaram.
He earlier met Chief Secretary P. K. Mohanty at the state secretariat. He also called on Governor E. S. L. Narasimhan and Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy before returning to the national capital.
The chief secretary later drove to the chief minister's camp office. He is believed to have briefed him about the features of the bill and the covering letter from the ministry.
The assembly has been asked to send back the bill with its comments by Jan 23. The union cabinet Dec 5 had approved draft bill and the same was sent to the President Pranab Mukherjee for referring to the assembly.
Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told reporters Thursday morning in New Delhi that the bill would be sent to the assembly once it is received from Rashtrapati Bhavan.
He said after the bill is sent back by the assembly, it would be discussed in the cabinet and a final bill would be sent to the president for his approval to table the same in parliament.
As the winter session of parliament ends Dec 20, the bill is likely to come up only in the next session.
Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh has already indicated that if necessary, a special session of parliament would be convened to pass the Telangana bill.
The winter session of the assembly began Thursday and it is scheduled to last till Dec 20. The Business Advisory Committee (BAC), which decides the agenda, is likely to meet again once the Telangana bill is received.
The session may be extended or a special session may be called next month to take up the bill.
