Telangana Bill to be debated in Lok Sabha on Tuesday

New Delhi, Feb 17: Notwithstanding protests from Seemandhra leaders, plans are afoot in the government to bring the

Bill for a debate in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

Congress is gearing up to the task and has already issued a three-line whip to its members for the entire week asking them to be present in Lok Sabha and vote in favour of government business.

Party leaders say that once the Vote on Account gets passed in the House, the focus will be on the bill to carve out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh.

Congress high-command is not perturbed despite strong opposition from the Seemandhra leaders.

On February 13, the Bill was tabled by the government in Lok Sabha amid unprecedented scenes. Scuffle broke out inside the House and an MP used pepper spray resulting in hospitalisation of three MPs.

After that 18 MPs, 15 of them from Seemandhra, were suspended.

Party managers including Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath and Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde have been interacting with opposition leaders on the issue.

The BJP has extended support to the formation of Telagana, with a caveat that amendments be brought to address concerns of Seemandhra.

A section of the party also says that after securing the passage to the Telangana bill in the Lok Sabha, efforts would also be made to take it to the Rajya Sabha despite knowing the difficulties involved in the Upper House.

A leader said that the session could be extended by a day or two if it helped passage of the Telangana bill in Parliament.

PTI