NDA to press for Telangana Bill in Winter Session of Parliament

BJP-led NDA today said it will strongly demand that the Telangana Bill be brought in the Winter Session of Parliament and press for debates on issues like internal security, violence against women and subversion of constitutional bodies like JPC on 2G scam.

"The NDA wants that the Telangana Bill should be brought in this session of Parliament. However, we feel that the inclusion of two new districts in the proposed Telangana state is not ethical," Deputy Leader of BJP in Rajya Sabha Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters after a meeting of NDA floor leaders in both Houses.

NDA is against the inclusion of Kurnool and Ananthpur in Telangana state.

However, much will depend on the results of the Assembly elections to five states that will be declared on December 8. BJP victory in three or more states is likely to make the opposition more aggressive on the government. But Prasad downplayed the issue.

"Since this will effectively be the last session of this Lok Sabha in which legislative work can be done, we want the House to function. We also expect that since the government has listed several Bills for passage, it will cooperate. Of late we have seen that Congress members themselves have been disrupting the House," he said.

He was referring to the Congress members from Telangana and Seemandhra regions of Andhra Pradesh who have protested in both Houses for and against formation of the new state.

Prasad emphasised that the opposition wants that the Lokpal Bill, which was passed by the Lok Sabha earlier, be brought for discussion and passage in Rajya Sabha in this session. "The Select Committee of Rajya Sabha has already approved the amended Bill," he said.