Andhra CM's stand on Telangana Bill doesn't go down well with Centre

New Delhi: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy’s effort to move a resolution in the state Assembly to return the Telangana bifurcation bill has not gone down well with the Centre. A senior Minister, who is a member of the Group of Ministers (GoM) which finalised the Telangana draft bill, today asserted that the UPA Government has decided to form Telangana and a “complete bill” will be presented in Parliament’s Budget Session “addressing all issues and concerns”. [caption id=“attachment_1361647” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A file photo of protests against Telangana. AFP[/caption] “He (Kiran) was not sound enough on the Constitution,” the Minister, who did not want to be named, said when asked about the Chief Minister’s allegation that the Bill violated not only Parliamentary procedures but also the Constitution. He said that the Centre has referred the Telangana Bill to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly seeking its opinion and its acceptance is not mandatory as the Constitution clearly states that the issue of formation of a new state is purely with the Centre. “States cannot interfere in the subject,” the minister, who is also a key Congress leader, said. He quoted earlier instances in which the Supreme Court has clearly said that subject was with the Union Government. Meanwhile, sources said the GoM constituted to carve out Telangana would meet once again after 30 January to undertake a final exercise on the matter. Andhra Pradesh Assembly witnessed dramatic scenes with ministers from Telangana region demanding that the Chief Minister should quit as they no longer recognised him as leader of the House. Deputy Chief Minister C Damodara Rajanarasimha led the banner of revolt demanding that Kiran step down, while some other ministers from the region opposed the Chief Minister’s move in the Assembly itself. However, an apparently unfazed Chief Minister and ministers from Seemaandhra were closeted in a meeting, and decided to “go ahead” with their objective of defeating the bill, referred to the Assembly by the President seeking its view. PTI