Raising serious doubts over the tabling of the Telangana Bill in the ongoing winter session of the 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 in Hyderabad, BJP national spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said that the tabling of the Telangana Bill in the ongoing session of Parliament is 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.
Javadekar accused the Congress of resorting to vote bank politics on the Telangana issue. "While the Congress wants to gain sympathy in the Telangana region by announcing Telangana, it is making efforts to make electoral gains in the Seemandhra region," he said.
He said that the ruling party is dividing the people instead of bifurcating the state. Accusing the Congress of mishandling the bifurcation issue, he said that the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government had created three smaller states, and that 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 is in favour of a Telangana state, and that it would continue to support it.
Javadekar did not rule out the BJP having an alliance with the Telugu Desam Party. He said that a decision in this regard would be taken after the announcement of the elections.
Earlier, he participated in the "Run For Unity" and "Run For India" at People's Plaza. BJP state president G Kishan Reddy, national vice-president Bandaru Dattatreya, cricketer V V S Laxman, actor Rajasekhar and his actress wife Jeevita, also participated in the program. (INN)