No hurdle in creation of Telangana state, says Shinde

Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde Friday said there was no hurdle in formation of separate Telangana state.

A day after the Andhra Pradesh assembly passed a resolution rejecting the state reorganization bill, he told reporters in the national capital that the bill will be passed during the parliament session, beginning Feb 5.

"The bill will be passed. There will be no problem," said Shinde to queries if the resolution would impact the process of statehood to Telangana.

The home minister said the bill was yet to be received from the state legislature. He also denied that the government has sought legal opinion from the Attorney General.

Both houses of the state legislature had Thursday passed official resolutions, by a voice vote, rejecting the bill sent by the President.

The Group of Minister (GoM) headed by Shinde is likely to meet on Feb 4 to give final shape to the report after going through amendments suggested by the state legislature. It will then send the bill to the president with the recommendation to forward the same to parliament.

Meanwhile, Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said the bill did not require approval of the state legislature. He also said the attitude of Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, who moved the resolution in the assembly rejecting the bill, was unexpected.

Congress general secretary incharge of party affairs in the state Digvijaya Singh reiterated that the party was committed to formation of a Telangana state. He told reporters in Hyderabad that the issues raised by the chief minister in the assembly would be taken into consideration.