Govt plans to push Delhi statehood Bill this session

After the Cabinet has given its approval, the Government plans to introduce the Delhi statehood bill in the Lok Sabha this session, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madanlal Khurana told The Indian Express yesterday. As for the bills to create the other three states, they will be sent by the President to the state governments for their views before they can beintroduced in Parliament. This is mandatory under Article 3 of the Constitution.

The passage of the Delhi bill entails an amendment in the Constitution and requires a two-third majority in Parliament. This need not, however, prevent the Government from introducing it to establish its bonafides with Delhi voters.

The introduction of legislation for the creation of other states will, however, take time but the government can at least declare its intent. The Congress had put a spanner in the works by offering to support the bills only if they were clubbed together.

The Delhi bill had also run into rough weather because of the controversy on where to draw its boundaries and local officials have pointed out the non-viability of the new state if certain areas are excluded. The Home Ministry had proposed that New Delhi may be retained as a union territory in the reorganised set-up while the rest of Delhi may be given statehood.

The Government has been trying to bring around its allies. The Akalis wereopposed to the inclusion of Udham Singh Nagar in Uttaranchal, and the Samata Party to the separation of the resource-rich Vananchal from the rest of Bihar. The Government has been looking into the possibility of allocating additional funds to make up for taking out the rich Jharkhand area from Bihar.

The BJP calculates that statehood could be a decisive issue in Delhi and Chhatisgarh in Madhya Pradesh. Chhatisgarh has been a traditional stronghold of the Congress.

Though the smallest of the three states going to the polls in November, Delhi has become crucial for both the BJP and the Congress. Sonia Gandhi articulated the import of Delhi’s position on Tuesday at her rally on Tuesday when she said that the BJP could not expect to run the country if it could not govern Delhi.

As things stand, the defeat of the Congress in Madhya Pradesh and its victory in Rajasthan seem to be likely conclusions. However, Delhi, which has been the BJP’s fiefdom for some time now, is a different proposition. The Congressvictory in the capital could set the mood in the rest of the country and determine Sonia Gandhi’s clout in the party.

Defeat of the Congress in Delhi would put Sonia on the defensive and make her vulnerable to snipes by party leaders. The stakes are therefore very high for her and the Congress.

For the BJP, too, its performance in what it has regarded as its backyard would decide whether it can claim to be the mainstream alternative to the Congress.

Though the United Front Government had in 1996 decided to create a state of Uttarakhand comprising 9 districts of Garhwal and Kumaon revenue divisions, and the Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Bill was prepared and came up for discussion, the Gujral Cabinet deferred the matter.

Home Minister L K Advani has approved the proposal to form a new state of Vananchal comprising 18 districts of South Bihar which are at present under the jurisdiction of the Jharkhand Area Autonomous Council. The Government proposes to create a new state of Chhatisgarh with sevendistricts of Madhya Pradesh: Bastar, Bilaspur, Durg, Raigarh, Raipur, Rajnandgaon and Sarguja.