BJP wants Telangana bill in budget session
By IANSTuesday, February 22, 2011
NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday insisted on bringing a legislation in the ongoing budget session for a separate Telangana state to be carved out of Andhra Pradesh.
“Our party has been completely supporting the Telangana movement,” BJP MP Rajnath Singh told the Lok Sabha, speaking on the motion of thanks to President Pratibha Patil’s address to a joint sitting of both houses of parliament.
The former BJP president lashed out at the government for not doing anything on the report by the Srikrishna panel that has suggested six ways to settle the dispute over Telangana.
“What is the government doing on the report submitted by the committee,” Rajnath Singh asked.
“Get the Telangana bill as soon as possible. We will support it so that the Telangana state is formed.”
The statement comes as the Andhra Pradesh assembly Tuesday remained paralysed for the third consecutive day as Telangana legislators stalled proceedings, demanding that the house pass a resolution for formation of a separate state for their region.
Congress MPs from the region Monday - the first day of the budget session - protested in and outside parliament pitching for the creation of the separate state.
The Srikrishna panel in its report Jan 7 suggested six ways to resolve the impasse but found a “united Andhra Pradesh”, with an economically and politically empowered Telangana region, as the “most workable option”.
