The BJP and anti-Telangana leaders led by Andhra Pradesh chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy are threatening to upset the Manmohan Singh government's plans to get the statehood bill passed in Parliament before the national election, due by May.
Over 9,000 amendments have been suggested in the Telangana bill by Andhra Pradesh legislators, and Mr Reddy's Congress government used this to ask for four extra weeks to complete discussions in the assembly. The Centre agreed to give only a week beyond the deadline, which ends today.
The Centre's plan to pass the bill in the session beginning on February 5, the last before the Lok Sabha polls, has hit another roadblock with the BJP reportedly changing its stand and arguing that it is opposed to the proposed law "in its present form.'' It has moved several amendments, and wants the government to consider them.
The BJP's turnaround is being linked to its strategy to appease Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader N Chandrababu Naidu, with whom it is on the verge of stitching a pre-poll alliance. Narendra Modi, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, is learnt to have assured Mr Naidu that his party will not facilitate the Andhra Pradesh (Reorganisation) Bill to create Telangana before the Lok Sabha polls.
The new hurdles in creating India's 29th state were discussed in a meeting of top Congress leaders at Rahul Gandhi's residence on Tuesday. "We are in a mess . We lose either way in the Telangana and Seemandhra regions ,'' a senior leader who was privy to the discussions told NDTV.
The party leadership has now decided to hold discussions with the BJP to find a way out of the logjam.
The Congress wants to make up for its expected losses in the Seemandhra region in the forthcoming general election by seeking a revival in its fortunes in Telangana, which sends 17 members to the Lok Sabha.
Source: NDTV
