Finally, the Telangana Draft Bill arrived here on Thursday. It is likely to be circulated to members of the Legislative Assembly and Council on Friday. State legislature secretary S Raja Sadaram received the copy of the draft bill on Thursday night.
On a day of fast-paced developments, joint secretary in the Union home ministry S Suresh Kumar brought the copies of Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill-2013 on Thursday evening. He arrived by a special BSF flight from Delhi. Kumar, who hails from Seemandhra, looks after the Centre-states subject. He drove directly from the airport to the Secretariat amid tight security provided by the Central Industrial Security Force and handed it over to chief secretary PK Mohanty at 5 pm.
Suresh Kumar brought around 390 copies of the bill in eight bundles for distribution to every legislator. CISF personnel were deployed at the Secretariat, minutes before his arrival there. They helped Kumar carry the eight huge bundles into the chief secretary’s peshi.
After handing over the copies to the chief secretary, Kumar called on chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and governor ESL Narasimhan. Later, he met legislature secretary Sadaram and gave him a copy.
According to sources, all the copies of the bill, in English, Telugu and Urdu versions, and stored in the Secretariat, will be handed over to the Assembly secretary for distribution to the members of the Assembly and Council on Friday.
President Pranab Mukherjee had cleared the draft bill on his birthday on December 11 and sent it to the Union home ministry which, in turn, printed enough copies and despatched the bundles by a special flight to the State.
Speculation is rife that chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy may not table the draft bill in the Assembly as he stood in favour of United Andhra Pradesh. In such a case, his deputy Damodar Rajanarasimha or any other minister from Telangana may table it to take the opinions of the House. The opinions of the MLAs will be intimated to the Centre for introduction of the bill in Parliament.
The President gave six weeks’ time for the Assembly to send the opinions of the legislators. But, if the draft was circulated to them on Friday itself, it is likely to be debated during the current session of the Assembly and Council, and the opinions sent to the Centre.
A Mission of three Hours
After handing over the copies to the chief secretary and meeting the chief minister, governor and legislature secretary, Suresh Kumar, which all took him just three hours, returned to Delhi by the special flight.
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