AICC supremo Sonia Gandhi is understood to have given the political nod for introducing the Telangana bill in the winter session of Parliament, during the Congress core committee’s meeting held in Delhi on Friday.
Thus, the Union Cabinet will have a special meeting on Dec 3 to discuss the draft bill and approve it so as to send it to the state Assembly through the President.
The hour-long meeting of the core committee is learnt to have considered the draft report of the Group of Ministers on bifurcation. Apart from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Union ministers AK Antony, Sushilkumar Shinde and P Chidambaram were present.
Meanwhile, parliamentary affairs minister Kamalnath is likely to hold an all-party meeting on Dec 2 to discuss the T-bill, sources said. Interestingly, soon after the core committee meeting, Kamalnath, speaking to reporters, questioned how it is possible to table the T-bill in Parliament’s winter session, given limited time available.
However, Sonia’s political secretary Ahmed Patel made a contrary statement saying the bill will be moved in the winter session itself.