The bill for formation of separate Telangana state finally reached Andhra Pradesh assembly, nearly 24 hours after the central government sent it to the state by a special aircraft.
The much-awaited draft Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill 2013 was brought to the assembly from the state secretariat by a senior official of the general administration department amid tight security. The bill was handed over to legislature secretary Raja Sadaram.
The bill reached the assembly only after the house was adjourned for the day after uproar over the delay.
Congress leaders from Telangana including Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha and several ministers blamed Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy for the delay in sending the bill to the assembly and even demanded the party leadership remove him.
They alleged that the chief minister deliberately delayed sending the bill till the house was adjourned till Monday.
Angry over the delay, Telangana legislators cutting across party lines gave a privilege notice against Chief Secretary P. K. Mohanty to Speaker N. Manohar.
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The legislators of Telangana Rashtra Samithi, Telugu Desam Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India alleged that Mohanty committed breach of privilege by not sending the bill in the morning.
A senior official of the union home ministry Thursday evening had handed over the bill to the chief secretary. Mohanty had later called on the chief minister to inform him about the receipt of the bill along with the direction from the president to return it along with the assembly's opinion by Jan 23.
The Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of the assembly will meet Monday to take a decision as to when the bill should be taken up for debate.
Telangana legislators are demanding that the house immediately take up the debate and if necessary extend the winter session, which is ending Dec 20.
However, the lawmakers from Seemandhra are opposing the demand and they want the house to pass a resolution to urge the central government to keep the state united.