Congress will issue whip for T-Bill, says Gandra

Government Chief Whip Gandra Venkataramana Reddy on Wednesday claimed that the Congress party would issue a whip to pass the Telangana Bill in the State Legislative Assembly.

Speaking to media persons here, Gandra said that Congress President Sonia Gandhi was firm on formation of Telangana State and would take all measures to ensure that the Telangana Bill gets the nod of both Legislative Assembly and Parliament. However, he said that the Legislative Assembly's approval would not be essential to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh. There is every possibility that a whip will be issued by the Congress party when the Telangana Bill comes for voting in the Assembly.

The Government Chief Whip said that the Congress party has already made it clear that Bhadrachalm would be part of Telangana State and therefore, there should be no apprehensions, whatsoever, on its status. He also said that the Congress Working Committee resolution was also clear on the status of Hyderabad.

Gandra also ridiculed Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy for opposing the State's bifurcation. He said that the Chief Minister was well aware in advance that the CWC would decide in favour of Telangana and the Centre would go ahead with the process of bifurcation. He said it was wrong on the part of the Chief Minister to criticise the Congress High Command for dividing the State.