Even as Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh moved the Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Amendment Bill in the lok Sabha in the face of stiff resistance from the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, another river water dispute was threatening to blow out between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
As soon as Rajnath Singh moved the Bill aimed at transferring seven mandals of Khammam district of Telangana to Andhra, TRS members rushed into the Well of the House shouting slogans and opposing the Bill. They were also supported by the MPs from Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
The seven mandals of Khammam district were facing submergence by Polavaram irrigation project. The Centre envisages transferring these areas to Andhra Pradesh to avoid any problems in the completion of the project, but Telangana was opposing such a move. Their objection also includes the fact that it will lead to uprooting of the tribal people from the region.
The Telangana unit of the BJP has also joined the Opposition to this move. State BJP president G Kishan Reddy has written a letter to PM Narendra Modi in this regard.
TRS leader in the lok Sabha Vinod Kumar strongly objected to the Bill saying how the Centre can bring in such legislation when Telangana State was already formed. He contended that the borders of a State can not be redrawn arbitrarily by the Centre.
The ruckus forced the Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to adjourn the House twice and when the situation did not return to normalcy, she adjourned the House till Wednesday.
TRS and Congress members from Telangana were also scheduled to meet President Pranab Mukherjee later this evening to oppose the amendment to the Reorganisation Act as it was against the interest of Telangana.