JOIN USThe Andhra Pradesh government has sought a four-week extension of the deadline to discuss the Telangana Bill in the Assembly. The present deadline given by the President to return the bill ends on Wednesday.
President Pranab Mukherjee had sent the draft bill to the state legislature on December 12 and gave time until January 23 to discuss and return it.
The Home Ministry has sent the letter from the AP government to the Prime Minister’s Office, forwarding it to Rashtrapati Bhavan for a decision by the president. The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill has been debated by the Assembly only for a few days and many legislators are yet to speak on it.
The government has informed the Ministry that an extension of the deadline was required due to the fact that MLAs had expressed their wish to speak on the matter.
There were precedents of giving extension of deadline to debate the state reorganisation bills. The Madhya Pradesh Assembly was given extended time by the then President to discuss and approve the bill for creation of Chhattisgarh.
If the time limit is extended beyond January 23, the Centre will have a very narrow window to get the Telangana Bill passed in the Parliament which will commence on February 5.