Telangana Bill may be delayed till Feb 2014, says BJP

Hyderabad, Dec 15: Raising serious doubts over tabling of Telangana Bill in the ongoing winter session of Parliament, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday said that the Congress-led UPA Government would delay the Bill till February 2014.

Addressing a press conference here, BJP national spokesperson Prakash Javedkar said that the tabling of Telangana Bill in the ongoing session of Parliament was unlikely. He said that the Bill might be delayed till February next when a short session of the Parliament would be convened to pass the Vote-on-Account.

Javedkar accused the Congress of resorting to vote bank politics on the Telangana issue. While the Congress wants to gain sympathy in Telangana region by announcing Telangana, it is making efforts to make electoral gains in Seemandhra region. He said that the ruling party was dividing the people instead of bifurcating the State. Accusing the Congress party of mishandling the bifurcation issue, he said that Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government created three smaller States and there were no hard feelings among the people who were divided. He described the process adopted by the UPA-II for Telangana formation as erroneous.

The BJP leader reiterated that his party was in favour of Telangana State and it would continue to support it.

Javedkar did not rule out BJP having an alliance with the Telugu Desam Party. He said that a decision in this regard would be taken after the announcement of elections.

Earlier, he participated in a program organized for “Run for Unity and Run for India” at People’s Plaza. BJP State president G Kishan Reddy, national vice-president Bandaru Dattatreya, cricketer VVS Laxman, actor Rajasekhar and his actress wife Jeevita also participated in the programme.

– INN