With just a day to go for this Parliament session to end, a desperate government will try to pass the Bill that creates Telangana as the 29th state in Rajya Sabha.
The Bill was approved by the Lok Sabha on Tuesday under controversial circumstances but was not taken up in Rajya Sabha yesterday as the house saw unruly scenes over the issue.
The Telangana tangle seems to be far from over with the main Opposition BJP locking horns with the Congress demanding key amendments, so that the issues of both Seemandhra and Telangana get adequately addressed through the new legislation.
With the BJP demanding to at least 20 amendments, including a constitutional amendment in the legislation and compensation for Seemandhra, the Bill to carve Telangana out of Andhra Pradesh could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
The Upper House was repeatedly disrupted and witnessed high drama on Wednesday when TDP member C. M. Ramesh pushed secretary general Shumsher K. Sheriff and snatched papers from him.
Ramesh and his party colleague, who are opposing the Bill, stormed the Well as soon as the House met at noon after the first adjournment on the issue.
There was heckling and even the spectacles of Sheriff were about to fall as Ramesh tried to forcibly take the papers.
Angry at the behaviour of the member, Kurien said, "This is very unfortunate. The Chair should not be attacked. Keep your hands off. What you are doing is very unfortunate."
In the post-lunch sitting four Bills were passed but the Telangana Bill was not taken up as the House was adjourned for the day amid noisy scenes.
As Minister K S Rao rose to speak on the Telangana Bill, Kurien informed him that it was not being taken up now.
"I thank the members for their cooperation...let's call it a day," he said and adjourned the House till tomorrow.
Sensing the government was being pushed to the wall, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh along with his senior Cabinet colleagues tried to convince the leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley and senior BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu, but in vain.
"They (Congress leaders) are not confident to take it (the bill) through Lok Sabha, but we have pledged full support, provided they agree to our demands," Naidu said.
"We've moved around 20 BJP demanded 20 amendments. Key among these are a constitutional amendment, for which they are wary for obvious reasons, second is a financial package for the Seemandhara people. They have agreed to a lot of things, but we want them to put the words in print ( in the Bill). We have asked them to come out with a full response by tomorrow," he said.
The BJP has demanded a package of Rs.10,000 crore for Seemandhra in the first year to address its developmental concerns.
This may be worked out as Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has asked the government to grant special status to the region for five years.
Talking to Mail Today, BJP president Rajnath Singh said: "Telangana is a reality which no one can deny, nor are we backing out as we're part of this exercise and will remain committed to the cause. But we're concerned about Seemandhara, hence we're demanding these amendments and special financial package for the Seemandhra people."
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