Bill Passed in Rajya Sabha

Parliament Passed Telangana bill:

In India Telangana became 29th state of the Union with Parliament.Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi's request to the Prime Minister to give a special category status to Seemandhra for five years seems to have apparently clinched the issue and BJP came on board.A protective cordon was thrown around Singh as well as Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde by Congress members as members from Seemandhra region as also those from TMC and Shiv Sena stormed the Well with TMC members even tearing papers and throwing them on the floor.

The House looked like a virtual battle-ground during the five-hour proceedings, which saw seven adjournments as members resorted to slogan shouting and tore papers describing the bill passed by the Lok Sabha on Tuesday as illegal.Amidst the half a dozen 15-minute adjournments in Rajya Sabha before the House took up the Telangana bill, the UPA and BJP did a backstage jig to ensure its passage. 

Till Wednesday night, the BJP was insisting on amendments to address concerns of the Seemandhra and a constitutional amendment on powers of a common governor to be custodian of law and order. This was a day after it had supported passage of the bill on creation of Telangana amidst a din in Lok Sabha.

But, on Thursday, the BJP softened its stand, worried that it would have to take the blame if there was a last minute hurdle in bill’s passage in case of an amendment being returned to Lok Sabha at the end of the session. The budget session of Parliament ends on Friday, the day 16 suspended Seemandhra MPS return to Lok Sabha. Even if one of its amendments was voted in Rajya Sabha, it would have to go back to the Lower House for its approval.

Union ministers Sushilkumar Shinde, Jairam Ramesh and Kamal Nath had a meeting with BJP leaders LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and M Venkaiah Naidu. The government side conveyed that it was difficult for it to accept its demand for amendments. The BJP wanted a specific figure to be mentioned in the Seemandhra package, but the government rejected this too. Weighing its options, the BJP finally agreed not to persist with amendments if Naidu could speak in Rajya Sabha addressing concerns of Seemandhra and the Prime Minister intervened to assure a package for the region which was opposed to the state’s bifurcation. 

After frequent adjournments in Rajya Sabha through the day, Naidu finally opened the debate in the evening appealing for calm as he spoke amid the din of sloganeering, seeking a package for Seemandhra in the wake of Telangana’s formation. Later, the Prime Minister, speaking on the floor of the House, announced a special package for Seemandhra. 

A party leader said it was never the BJP’s intention to block the bill but while it backed creation of Telangana, it wanted justice for Seemandhra.On Wednesday, a series of backroom negotiations between the government, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at one point, ended in a stalemate with the BJP sticking to its demand for the amendments. The bill could not be taken up in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.   BJP strategists are hoping that the party would gain politically in the Lok Sabha elections from its stance in Parliament once the heat over Telangana dies down and parties get into poll mode.

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