GoM meet today on bifurcation, report soon
Hyderabad, The Group of ministers on Telangana will meet at 11 am on Friday to review the opinions before finalising the draft Bill on Telangana.
Sources said that the Union law ministry has been asked to work out the legal issues pertaining to Article 371 (D, E) whether it is to be repealed or amended simultaneously with the introduction of the Telangana Bill.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said the Group of Ministers, set up to look into the creation of Telangana, will submit its report as early as possible and justice will be given to Andhra Pradesh.
"The GoM will submit its report as early as possible and that is the reason why no time frame has been given to it...," he said replying to a volley of questions on bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
The Home Minister ruled out any rethink on the decision to create Telangana following massive protests in Seemandhra region. "I do not think there is any possibility of going back to the decision to create Telangana," he said.
The GoM will look into various aspects of the formation of a new state, including water sharing, law and order situation and legal framework.
Shinde, however, did not commit whether the Telangana Bill will be table during the Winter session of Parliament. "That we will see," he said when asked whether the Bill will be brought in the coming session expected to start November-end.
The other ministers in the GoM are P Chidambaram (Finance), Ghulam Nabi Azad (Health), M Veerappa Moily (Petroleum) and Jairam Ramesh (Rural Development). Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office V. Narayanasamy is special invitee to the GoM. Defence miniser A K Antony will not be attending the meeting owing to his ill health.
The Centre reconstituted the GoM on Telangana by reducing the number of ministers from 10 to six. The Union Ministers who were dropped from the GoM are M Pallam Raju (HRD), Kapil Sibal (Law), Harish Rawat (Water Resources), Kamal Nath (Urban Development), Oscar Fernandez (Road Transport), Jyotiraditya Scindia (Power) and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
There is no minister from the Andhra Pradesh has been included in the GoM.
Meanwhile, Telangana Congress MLCs have said that the GOM should give their report within six weeks as mentioned in the Telangana note approved by the Union Cabinet. They appealed to the Congress high command to appoint a separate PCC to Telangana area as the two states will go to the next general elections.