Facing resistance from various stakeholders, the Centre was on Thursday forced to drop the proposal to add two districts — Anantapur and Kurnool — to Telangana post-bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. In a late evening meeting, the Cabinet cleared the Bill for creation of the new State comprising 10 districts with Hyderabad as its common Capital for next one decade.
Announcing that the Telengana Bill will be tabled in Winter Session, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said special status would be granted to both the States under Article 371D of the Constitution for equitable opportunities.The three-hour long Cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved a draft reorganisation Bill based on recommendations of Group of Ministers. The Cabinet, however, dropped the controversial move to add two districts of Rayalaseema to Telangana opposed by various stakeholders.
The Government of India will extend financial and other support to the creation of a new capital for the successor State of Andhra Pradesh to be identified by an expert committee, the Bill said. Institutional mechanism with full involvement and participation of Government of India will be put in place to manage water resources and projects on Krishna and Godavari rivers in an amicable and equitable manner.
Polavaram will be declared as a national project and will be executed by the Union Government following all environmental and R&R norms. Detailed provisions have been made in the bill on matters relating to coal, power, oil and gas, division of assets and liabilities and allocation of Government employees. Existing admission quotas in higher technical and medical institutions will continue for a period not exceeding five years.
According to Shinde, the Bill will be sent to the President on Friday with a request to make a reference to Andhra Pradesh assembly to obtain its views.
The Bill states the Governor of Telangana will have a special responsibility for security of life, liberty and property of all those who reside in the common capital area. The Governor may be assisted by two advisors to be appointed by the Government of India. Andhra Pradesh will now have 13 districts.
Ahead of the Cabinet meet, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi held consultations with top party leaders at the backdrop of severe protests in Andhra Pradesh over the proposal of Rayal-Telangana State. The Congress core committee had last month cleared the Telangana Bill that was prepared by the Group of Ministers (GoM).
The idea of adding two districts by GoM evoked widespread protest in the region and from across the party lines including the ruling Congress, BJP, TRS and others. The proposal entailed dividing all four districts of Rayalaseema region equally and amalgamating two of them -- Kurnool and Anantapuram -- in Telangana thereby creating the Rayala-Telangana State.
The move to bifurcate Andhra is being made despite stiff opposition from various quarters including Andhra Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy who is opposed to the bifurcation of the state. Reddy, along with several MPs of the state, have reportedly threatened to quit if the new State is formed.
Earlier in the day, a delegation of Congress and TRS MPs from Telangana region met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and conveyed their apprehensions over inclusion of two Rayalaseema districts with the proposed Telangana State. “We called on the Prime Minister to urge him to carve out the new (Telangana) State as per the decision of CWC. It was emphasised that Telangana should have only 10 districts,” said Ponnam Prabhakar, Congress lok Sabha member from Karimnagar. The delegation comprised nine MPs, including two from Rajya Sabha.