'Andhra Pradesh' May Just The Cake For Sonia's Birthday

By Nazia Naqvi / Delhi

A cake is being baked and it would be ready just before Sonia Gandhi’s birthday on December 9. The cake in question is Andhra Pradesh, which she may cut if the Telangana State Bill is introduced in the forthcoming Winter Session of Parliament that starts on December 5. The pendulum is rapidly swinging between whether the Telangana Bill will be introduced in the winter session or not. 

The answer will vary depending on to whom the question is posed. Lawmakers of Andhra-Rayalaseema still seem to entertain the hope that the Centre will not be able to introduce the Bill in the Winter Session and even if it does, it will encounter some hurdle or the other.
The first hope of the Andhra lawmakers is that the Centre will not have enough time to get the Bill ready for introduction in Parliament. But those working on it in Delhi disagree. Officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs are said to be ready with the Bill and would fine-tune it within a week after November 5, the deadline set by the Group of Ministers for receiving representations. 

Thereafter, it will be vetted by the Cabinet before being sent to the State Assembly through the President. This would happen around November 20 and the draft Bill is expected to be returned to the Centre well before the Parliament session begins on December 5. If everything goes as per plan, the Bill is proposed to be introduced on December 9.

“All that is required is clarity on the status of Hyderabad. Once the political decision on this aspect is made, the Bill will accordingly be changed while the rest of it is more or less ready,” a source said.

Leaders of the Telangana movement, now worried over the Centre according concessions to Seemandhra on the status of Hyderabad, are sending feelers to the Central leadership of the Congress that such a move might provide an opportunity for parties like the TRS to move towards the BJP. However, Congressmen from Telangana are unlikely to oppose any proposal that Delhi makes to appease Seemandhra people.

Would the BJP really be in a position to oppose concessions on Hyderabad or special packages for Andhra-Rayalaseema is the question. Assuming it does and moves amendments and Muslim parties like the MIM also join chorus, it could only provide handle to the Centre to drop the concessions on Hyderabad, something that Sonia is keen on—not allow any dilution of the stated party position on Telangana. 

This is precisely what she has been reportedly telling leaders from Andhra. “In any case, we have lost Andhra. Don’t force me to make compromises on Telangana.”