President gives the nod to Telangana Bill

President Pranab Mukherjee has given his go-ahead to the Telangana Bill, which could now be tabled in the Parliament tomorrow.

The development comes on a day Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to meet top BJP leaders for dinner to seek their support for the passage of the crucial Telangana Bill and other anti-corruption legislations in the final session of Parliament before Lok Sabha polls.

The Prime Minister reportedly called up senior BJP leader L.K. Advani and Leaders of the Opposition in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley respectively last night to invite them for dinner at his residence, according to sources.

They said the dinner meeting was earlier scheduled for Monday but was postponed due to non-availability of Advani, who was away in his Gandhinagar constituency.

The government has reportedly agreed to BJP's demands on amendments to the Andhra Pradesh Re-organisation Bill, 2013, and the Prime Minister during his meeting with the BJP leaders is likely to assure them that their concerns regarding justice to Seemandhra region will be addressed.

While BJP has made its stand clear by backing formation of Telangana, it has put conditions to support the bill, saying concerns of people from the Seemandhra region be addressed specifically in the legislation and the quantum of financial package be clearly spelt out.

The Telangana Bill is likely to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha over the next day or two. The Union Cabinet had cleared the Bill last Friday and the government sent it to the President for his approval before its introduction in Parliament.

Disruptions continued in both Houses of Parliament over the Telangana issue ever since the session commenced on February 5. The government wants to clear the bill on priority after having announced the decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh, given that this is the last session before the scheduled Lok Sabha elections.