State Chief Secretary P K Mohanty received the draft of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill 2013 from Union Home Joint Secretary (Centre-State) S Suresh Kumar at 6.15 pm Thursday and forwarded it to CM N Kiran Kumar Reddy,who was expected to send it to Governor ESL Narasimhan. Kumar arrived from New Delhi in a special BSF aircraft with eight bundles of the draft. After handing over the bundles to Mohanty,he said: My job is over now. The draft may be sent to the Assembly for a discussion by Friday morning. But Telangana leaders expressed the apprehension that the CM may sit on it. TRS president K Chandrasekhara Rao said he expected the draft to be sent to the Assembly by Friday morning. Is there any other issue that deserves priority? Seemandhra MLAs who want to be heard should also insist that the draft be put up for discussion tomorrow, he said. Meanwhile,Telangana MLAs held talks to counter those from coastal and Rayalaseema districts during the discussion. The winter session of the legislature will continue till December 20,during which acrimonious debates over Telangana are expected. Outside the legislature,groups of Congress,Telugu Desam,BJP and TRS MLAs from Telangana got together and met Deputy CM Damodar Raja Narasimha,who also hails from the region,to strategise to stall Seemandhra MLAs when the discussion on the Bill starts. If voting is allowed by Speaker N Manohar,the Bill is likely to be defeated by the 155-strong Seemandhra MLA lobby. The Cabinet,divided on regional lines,saw Congress ministers sniping at each other over voting on the Bill. While Information and Public Relations Minister D K Aruna,who hails from Telangana,wondered why there should be voting when its result is not binding on the Centre,Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy said Seemandhra ministers would seek a vote. Hectic parleys were held at MLA quarters and residences of party leaders to decide the start date and the number of days and speakers for a discussion on the Bill. All this will come up before the business advisory committee that will meet again to draw up a schedule to discuss the Bill in the next six weeks. The session may be extended or a special session may be called next month to take up the Bill. AICC Andhra in-charge Digvijaya Singh landed in Hyderabad to hold talks with party leaders from Seemandhra and Telangana.
