GoM suggests UT status for Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: In a major concession to the Seemandhra lobby aimed at minimizing the opposition to the passage of the AP Reorganization Bill, 2013, the Group of Ministers that met here on Thursday recommended Hyderabad be made a Union Territory for the 10 years it will serve as the joint capital of the two states.

The draft Telangana bill had placed Hyderabad in the Telangana region, but to be administered by the Telangana governor with the aid of two advisors. However, the Union Cabinet, which is slated to take up the recommendations of the GoM for consideration at its special Telangana-centred meeting at 4.30 pm on Friday, will have to clear the UT model for the joint capital.

Apart from recommending making Hyderabad a UT, the GoM is also believed to have recommended that villages in Telangana's Khammam district that will be submerged because of the Polavaram project be merged with Seemandhra's East and West Godavari districts so that no inter-state dispute comes in the way of the establishment of the project.

These two recommendations were among the many submitted to the GoM by Seemandhra ministers on Wednesday night.

After the meeting, Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde, also the head of GoM, and key member Jairam Ramesh briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi about its recommendations. The GoM is said to have been given political clearance by Sonia to forward its recommendations for the approval of the full cabinet meeting on Friday.

The Seemandhra lobby has been insisting that if division is inevitable, Hyderabad should be made either a permanent UT or UT at least for the period it serves as the joint capital of Telangana and residuary Andhra Pradesh after the division. The decision to make Hyderabad a UT is sure to be opposed by Telangana parties such as the TRS, which is already unhappy with the idea of granting special powers to the governor with regard to law and order and land.

Among the other recommendations, the GoM has sought amendment to Section 46 (1) of the draft Telangana bill to enable the 14th Finance Commission to look at the available resources of the two states and accordingly make recommendations regarding the financial package. Apart from Shinde and Ramesh, Thursday's GoM meeting was attended by Ghulam Nabi Azad, P Chidambaram, M Veerappa Moily and V Narayanswamy.

Home ministry sources indicated that the Union cabinet, which is meeting on Friday, is expected to consider the GoM recommendations. After the cabinet, the bill will be sent to the President seeking his permission to introduce the bill in Parliament. "If all goes well, the plan of the government is to introduce the bill on Monday," the sources said. According to sources, the decision as to whether the bill should be introduced in Lok Sabha or the Upper House is still to be taken by the cabinet. While some ministers such as Chidambaram are for taking the Rajya Sabha route, Shinde is for the Lok Sabha one.