GoM to wrap up work by Nov-end

Putting the process of bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh process in top gear, the Group on Ministers (GoM) on Thursday has drawn up a roadmap. After the hour-long meeting, Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde has signalled that the GoM will try to wrap up its work by November-end. The Telangana Bill would be sent to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly at an appropriate time, he said.

According to sources, there was a debate in the GoM on whether or not packages should find mention in the Bill. While some ministers strongly opposed it, there was a view that it should be mentioned in the Bill, so that it gets statutory status.

Otherwise, like the Gentlemen’s Agreement agreed to in 1956, which was not honoured, a similar fate may befall on the package.After a debate in the GoM, two issues were deferred for the last meeting of the GoM. These were Hyderabad and Article 371-D. Since both the issues have political overtones, these have been deferred for the last meet meeting of the GoM. The government has called a meeting of the Secretaries of the Government on November 11. The all-party meeting has been slated for November 12 and 13 and on November 18, when the next GoM meets, it will interact with the Union Ministers from the Seemandhra region.

In a related development, AICC general secretary in-charge of Andhra Pradesh Digvijay Singh will be chairing the Andhra Pradesh Congress Coordination Committee meeting at the Congress War Room in the capital on Friday, where he is expected to bring Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and through him the other Seemandhra Congress leaders on board, in order to hasten the process. Shinde said for the all-party meeting, each political party has been given 20 minutes time. While two members from each party have been invited to attend the meeting, Shinde said personally he would prefer just one representative from each political party. Shinde wanted the invitation extended to all the eight political parties of Andhra Pradesh. According to well-placed sources, the review work in the GoM has been completed. Nearly 18,000 suggestions have been received from various quarters, which need to be sorted out and tabulated, before the GoM could take it up for consideration.

Apart from different Union Ministries, Andhra Pradesh Government, political parties and individual leaders, besides various agencies, associations, organisations, NGOs and other stakeholders, several representations have poured into the GoM.