The note on Telangana prepared by the Union Home Ministry would be placed before the Union Cabinet in first week of October soon after the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh returns from New York.
This will mark the beginning of a formal legal and administrative process of bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and formation of Telangana State. The Union Cabinet will set up a Group of Ministers to prepare a formal draft Bill which will be sent to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly for its views and to the President of India.
Irrespective of the outcome of the voting in AP Assembly, the Bill would be moved in Parliament in the coming Winter Session, possibly in month of November. Given the determination and seriousness of the Congress high command, the Bill is likely to be considered and approved by both the House of Parliament during the Winter Session.
The reports that the Centre had expedited the process has created a flutter among the Congress leaders of Rayalaseema and Andhra and at least five of the party MPs from the two regions were all set to quit.
Earlier they were scheduled to resign on Monday but it was delayed by a day as the lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar gave them the appointment of Tuesday morning.
Sources close to the MPs said they would urge the Speaker to immediately accept their resignation which was pending with her for quite some time. The MPs, who will press the resignation include Y Venkatrami Reddy (Anantapur), SPY Reddy (Kurnool) and A Sai Pratap (Rajampet) all from Rayalaseema and V Arun Kumar (Rajahmundry) and l Rajagopal (Vijayawada) both from Andhra.
Two more MPs Magunta Srinivas Reddy (Ongole) and G Harsha Kumar (Amalapuram) were also likely to meet the Speaker and submit their resignations. Sources said that the MPs were coming under pressure from other party leaders not to resign now and wait for the right moment.
“They are being told that we should resign when the Telangana resolution is tabled in the Assembly but the MPs are not willing as it will be too late,” said a source.
Minor Irrigation Minister TG Venkatesh, who was lobbying against Telangana, said that if the resolution was brought before the Assembly it will be defeated.
Several Congress leaders from Telangana as well as Andhra were camping in New Delhi to lobby their respective cases with the party high command. Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy who was in Delhi to attend the National Integration Council meeting, was also likely to have meetings with the party central leaders to discuss the prevailing situation in the State.
Rs 3000 crore loss Meanwhile, ignoring the appeal of the State Government to end the strike, the APNGOs Association had further intensified the strike as private educational institutions were also closed from Monday for a week in all the 13 districts of Seemandhra regions.
A Cabinet sub-committee held discussions with the leaders of striking employees. “As the outcome was satisfactory, we have decided to continue the strike”, said Ashok Babu, president, APNGOs Association.
State Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, who also took part in the talks said that revenue loss of the State due to the agitation over the last two months has reached Rs 3000 crore (Rs 300 billion). “We also pointed out that the agitation was causing immense difficulties to the ordinary people as it had affected the Government hospitals and civil supplies system. The white ration card-holders were not getting the cheap rice,” he said.