Bill in winter session, asserts Jaipal

New Delhi: Union Science and Technology Minister S Jaipal Reddy on Monday said the Telangana Bill would come up in the winter session of parliament from December 5-20.

His announcement assumes significance, as doubts were being expressed in some quarters whether the Bill will come to Parliament following the inordinate delay in completing the formalities.

At a meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, he is understood to have discussed the developments relating to the GoM and the Draft Telangana Bill. Emerging from the meeting with Sonia Gandhi, Reddy said, “As per my understanding, the Telangana Bill will come to Parliament in the Winter Session.”

He ruled out all suggestions that the Bill may not come to Parliament in time, as there has been an inordinate delay in sending the draft Bill to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly for its comments.

“No Constitutional amendment is required for Article 371-D or any other provision of the constitution,” he said. An intense debate was triggered, following the legal opinion tendered by Attorney-General G E Vahanvati, who said that a constitutional amendment was required to delete Article 371-D and only after that the Centre could proceed with the State’s bifurcation.

Reddy agreed that increasing the Telangana Assembly seats to 153 was “desirable and needed.” He backed the demand first raised by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) vice-chairman M Shashidhar Reddy.