Government urges all parties to settle Telangana issue

As parliament continued to be disrupted over the Telangana issue, the government Friday asked all political parties to settle the matter as it was something which had already been promised.

"Let us see. This (Telangana) is something, which is already promised," Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told media outside parliament when asked whether the union cabinet will clear the bill this evening.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said disruptions over Telangana are not a Congress versus other parties issue.

"This issue is not about Congress MPs. It's a question of Seemandhra MPs versus Telangana MPs. My appeal to all members is that they have to understand that if the issue is not solved in the 15th Lok Sabha, it will have to be settled in the next," he said.

"Even then there will be 17 MPs from Telangana and 25 from Seemandhra. This matter can only be put to rest by parliament and by vote because there will always be members from Telangana and from Seemandhra," Kamal Nath said.

"You (political parties) can oppose it but opposing is different from obstruction. Disrupting parliament proceedings weakens democracy and parliamentary system," he told reporters.

To a question as to whether the bill is expected to come to parliament next week, Kamal Nath said, "We can always expect."

Both houses of parliament were disrupted Friday over the Telangana issue.