Telangana bill not taken up in Rajya Sabha

Sources say the BJP has a total of 32 amendments which it wants to incorporate in the bill

The Rajya Sabha could not take up the bill for the formation of Telangana on Wednesday as the government and the opposition could not reach any consensus over amendments in the bill.

Sources said the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has a total of 32 amendments which it wants to incorporate in the bill.

However, the government said any change in the nature of bill would mean it has to go to the Lok Sabha again, creating more trouble.

As a consensus could not be reached, the bill was dropped for the day, and Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien adjourned the upper house shortly after 5 p.m.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also met Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley and BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu so that the bill could be passed Wednesday, but the meeting yielded no results.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath was seen holding parleys with leaders from the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj party on the floor of the house.

Speculations over the bill being tabled in the upper house continued through the day, and a supplementary list of business circulated after lunch also listed the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill for consideration and passing.

Even as Y.S. Chowdhary and C.M. Ramesh of the Telugu Desam Party and K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao of Congress stood near the chairman's podium with posters demanding "united Andhra Praesh" and "save Andhra Pradesh", the upper house passed four bills in a row, after an agreement among members.

While the bill for Telangana was expected next, the upper house was suddenly adjourned for half an hour around 4.30 pm.

When the house met again at 5 p.m, Kurien said passing four bills was enough work for a day and adjourned the house till Thursday.