Govt reconstitutes GoM on Telangana, drops Raju, brings Antony

New Delhi: Barely two days after constituting a ten-member GoM on Telangana, government today reorganised the high-powered ministerial panel by dropping HRD Minister M Pallam Raju and bringing Defence Minister A K Antony, and also reducing the number of members to seven. Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, Defence Minister A K Antony, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Minister of Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas M Veerappa Moily and Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh are the members of the reconstituted GoM. [caption id=“attachment_1160631” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Telangana protests. AP. [/caption] Minister of State for Personnel and Prime Minister’s Office V Narayanasamy will be the Special Invitee in the reconstituted Group of Ministers which will look into the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and formation of Telangana. Apart from Antony, the Union Ministers who were newly inducted in the GoM are Azad, Moily and Ramesh. The Union Ministers dropped from the GoM are Law Minister Kapil Sibal, Water Resources Minister Harish Rawat, Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath, Road Transport Minister Oscar Fernandes, Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia besides Raju. Raju hails from Seemandhra region of Andhra Pradesh and is opposed to creation of Telangana. He has submitted his resignation letter to Prime Minister as mark of protest and did not attend the Cabinet meeting yesterday. After the October 3 meeting of the Union Cabinet, which approved the creation of Telangana, government had announced that the GoM on Telangana will have ten Union Ministers as its members. The terms of reference of the GoM are: (i) Determine the boundaries of the new state of Telangana and the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh with reference to the electoral constituencies, judicial and statutory bodies, and other administrative units, (ii) Look into the legal and administrative measures required to ensure that both the state governments can function efficiently from Hyderabad as the common capital for 10 years, (iii) Take into account the legal, financial and administrative measures that may be required for transition to a new capital of the residuary State of Andhra Pradesh, (iv) Look into the special needs of the backward regions and districts of both the states and recommend measures, (v) Look into the issues relating to law and order, safety and security of all residents and to ensure peace and harmony in all regions and districts consequent to the formation of the state of Telangana and the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh, and the long term internal security implications arising out of the creation of the two states and make suitable recommendations, (vi) Look into the sharing of river water, irrigation resources and other natural resources (especially coal, water, oil and gas) between the two States and also inter-se with other States, including the declaration of Polavaram Irrigation Project as a National Project, (vii) Look into the issues related to power generation, transmission and distribution between the two states, (viii) Look into the issues arising on account of distribution of assets, public finance, public corporations and liabilities thereof between the two states, (ix) Look into the issues relating to the distribution of the employees in the subordinate as well as All India Services between the two states, (x) Look into the issues arising out of the Presidential Order issued under Article 371D of the Constitution consequent to the bifurcation, and (xi) Examine any other matter that may arise on account of bifurcation of the state of Andhra Pradesh and make suitable recommendations. PTI