MHA steps up talks with ministries dealing with AP carve-up

NEW DELHI: With the Group of Ministers (GoM) on bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh set to submit its recommendations ahead of winter session of Parliament, the Union home ministry has stepped up consultations with ministries dealing with issues relating to the bifurcation. At a meeting with secretaries of the ministries concerned like water resources, power, roads and transport, HRD, etc, here on Friday, Union home secretary Anil Goswami asked them to consult Central and state representatives over the next few days and submit by November 5 their respective proposals on division of resources between Telangana and the residuary state.

Sources in the government said the GoM would discuss these proposals at its next meeting scheduled for November 7, and may either accept them in toto or agree to fine-tune them further. Over the next couple of meetings, the GoM — headed by Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde and comprising defence minister A K Antony, finance minister P Chidambaram, petroleum minister Veerappa Moily and others — is expected finalize the recommendations based on which the Union home ministry will draft the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill.

"We will submit the report before the winter session begins," Shinde told reporters here on Friday.

As per the timeline for bifurcation worked out by the Union home ministry, the draft Bill, after being cleared by the Cabinet, will be sent to the President, who shall then refer it to the state assembly for approval. However, the state assembly's views will not be binding on the Centre. Irrespective of fate of the draft Bill in the state assembly, the Centre can move the same or revised draft Bill before the Cabinet, seeking approval for its introduction in Parliament.

When asked by when Telangana would come into existence, Shinde was non-committal. Given the Constitutional requirement of referring the draft Bill to the state assembly, when both the chief minister and Seemandhra representatives are sore over the bifurcation move, the Union home minister's predicament on whether the Bill can be cleared in the winter session itself, may be understandable.