AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh on Monday made it clear that a separate Telangana State would come into being before the 2014 elections.
Interacting with the media in New Delhi Digvijay Singh pointed out that the A.P. Reorganization Bill 2013 is currently being debated in the State Assembly and the President of India, who had forwarded the Bill to the state, had set January 23 as the last date by which the opinion should reach him.
When reminded about the demand from a section of the leaders from Seemandhra including Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy for extending the time, the AICC leader said that it was up o the President of India to take a decision. At the same time he asserted that a specials session of parliament, if need be, would be convened to get T Bill passed.
Digvijay Singh in reply another question said that the issue of TRS merging with the Congress would be dealt with after the formation of the Telangana state. As regards the need for setting up a separate steering committee for Telangana, the High Command would take a decision soon, he observed.
Meanwhile with the debate on the T Bill progressing in the Assembly and would resume after a break on January 17, the question that is generating much heat in political circles is whether a voting on the Bill would take place or not. While the Telangana legislators are confident that there would be no voting, the Seemandhra members asserting that the Bill has to be put for vote in order to ascertain the opinion of the House. Thus the ball is now in the court of Speaker Nadendla Manohar to a take decision on this.
However the legislators from both the regions not to leave this crucial aspect to chance are planning their own strategies – the Telangana members to a voting at any cost and the Seemandhra members to muster required strength to defeat the Bill during voting. (NSS)