Decks cleared for a Telangana state

Cong, UPA unanimously back statehood to region

A separate Telangana state, India's 29th, came a step closer to reality on Tuesday, with the Congress Working Committee (CWC) and the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)'s coordination committee unanimously backing the move. The Union Cabinet is to meet on Wednesday to approve the plan and set the ball rolling.

Though it is expected to take months before the process to create the new state and give it its own capital is completed - it is to share Hyderabad as capital with the Seemandhra region for 10 years - the Congress was unambiguous in claiming the political prize for the decision. Digvijaya Singh, the party's general-secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh affairs, said, now that Telangana was going to be a reality, he expected the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), which spearheaded the movement for statehood to the region, to wind up and merge with the Congress.

Telangana is likely to get 17 of undivided Andhra Pradesh's 42 Lok Sabha seats and 119 of its 294 Assembly seats.

With both Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh scheduled to be held together in May 2014, the Congress is being seen as moving at a breakneck speed to ensure it keeps its majority in both - and take the wind out of the sails of principal rivals the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the YSR Congress.

At present, 30 of the 42 Lok Sabha MPs from Andhra Pradesh are from the Congress. The party needs to retain this number to form the government in 2014.

CWC on Tuesday passed a resolution to "request the central government to take steps in accordance with the Constitution to form a separate state of Telangana... within a definite timeframe". The Congress also decided to recommend to the government that Hyderabad be made the joint capital of the newly-proposed state and the other regions - Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra Pradesh - for 10 years.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, anxious to stay in the political loop, added its backing to the creation of the new state. "We reiterate our demand for Telangana. We do not want the Congress to only make an announcement. It also needs to bring a Bill in Parliament in the monsoon session," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said, adding the Bill would be passed in both Houses.

The districts that will be part of the new state will be Adilabad, Karimnagar, Khammam, Mahaboobnagar, Medak, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, Rangareddy and Warangal, besides Hyderabad.

For now, the idea was to have 10 districts in Telangana but it would be for a group of ministers to consider the demands for inclusion of more areas, AICC General-Secretary (incharge for Andhra Pradesh) Digvijay Singh told a press conference after the CWC meeting.

The way forward
Creation of the new state will take about six months. A number of steps will have to be taken. These include adoption of state re-organisation Bill by Parliament by a simple majority.

The Union Cabinet, at its meeting on Wednesday, is expected to give an in-principle approval for creation of a group of ministers, comprising ministers of home affairs, finance, human resource development, health, irrigation, power, environment & forests and railways, besides the Planning Commission deputy chairman, to look into the economic issues. The Planning Commission, as well as the finance ministry, will set up special cells to oversee the viability of the new state.
STEPS TO A NEW STATE
A lot of confusion reigned over the steps to be taken to secure the legal backing for Telangana. While one set of experts said there was no need for a Constitutional amendment, another said a 29th state could not be added to the Constitution without an amendment. The steps to create Telangana are detailed below

• The home ministry will submit a note to the Cabinet for creation of Telangana on the basis of proposal received from the state government. The process will take at least 40 days.
• The Andhra Pradesh State Legislature will also have to pass a resolution that a separate state of Telangana be formed. This will be endorsed by the Cabinet. The AP Assembly might reject the resolution, but as Telangana is a smaller state (which could not get its resolution adopted in the Assembly), the Cabinet would disregard that
• After the Cabinet meeting, the PM would recommend to the President that the draft Bill be referred under Article 3 of the Constitution to the State Legislature for views to be given within 30 days.
• The President will then refer the Bill to Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly, as well as the Legislative Council, which will then consider the Bill and give their views within 30 days.
• The recommendations of the State Legislature will be incorporated into the draft re-organisation Bill and vetted by the law ministry.
• A third note will be prepared with draft reorganisation Bill vetted by the law ministry and sent to the Cabinet for approval for introduction in Parliament.
• Notice will be given for introduction of the reorganisation Bill in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. After introduction in both Houses of Parliament, the Bill has to be passed by a simple majority. This cannot happen before the winter session
• After being passed by both the Houses of Parliament, the Bill will be sent to President for his assent and the new state Telangana will come into being