CM will cooperate: Diggy

l He leaves T Cong leaders confused

l Suspicion over continuance of APCC till elections

l Digvijay meets CM, Dy CM, PCC chief, Dy Speaker, Jana Reddy, Danam, Marri Shashidhar Reddy, Sunitha Lakshma Reddy, among others

BAC will meet on Monday

Hyderabad: The Business Advisory committee of the State Assembly will meet on Monday to decide on the date to bring the Draft T Bill before the House. This was announced by the AICC general secretary in-charge of state affairs Digvijay Singh at the end of his two-day visit. He also exuded confidence that the Chief Minister would cooperate in the process.

Digvijay appealed to all the legislators from both the regions to discuss the Bill clause by clause and express their opinion freely. He said the Centre would take care of all their apprehensions and justice would be done to both the regions.

However, a comment made by Digvijay Singh has left the T Congress leaders in confusion. The T leaders were left wondering whether the process would be completed before the Lok Sabha elections.

Their suspicion arises from the statement made by Digvijay who said that the party was not thinking of splitting the AP Congress Committee and the party’s election campaign for the coming three months will be taken forward under the leadership of APCC president Botcha Satyanarayana.

He said he would consult AICC president Sonia Gandhi and see that two regional committees were constituted which would work under the supervision of the APCC.

In the morning the PCC president called on Singh and discussed the various issues including initiating disciplinary action against J C Diwakar Reddy who has been criticising the party and the AICC president Sonia Gandhi. Soon after that the minister for Labour D Nagender and Shabbir Ali met Digvijay Singh.

Danam said that Digvijay assured him that the Bill would come up for discussion in the Assembly during this session itself. Senior Ministers like K Jana Reddy also called on him. Later around 10.30 am the AICC general secretary accompanied by former minister Shabbir Ali and other leaders called on Governor ESL Narsimhan.

From Raj Bhavan, Digvijay Singh went to Gandhi Bhavan where Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy called on him and discussed the Draft Bill. He was learnt to have told Digvijay Singh that the BAC would be convened on Monday which would decide the date for taking up the Draft Bill in the Assembly.

This was followed by a meeting between Digvijay Singh and Deputy Chief Minister C Damodara Rajanarasimha and some T Ministers. These leaders have complained against Kiran and demanded that he be replaced for smooth passage of the Bill in the Assembly. Digvijay turned down their demand and assured them that Kiran would cooperate in the process.

In the meantime, Telangana Students JAC leaders called on Digvijay Singh at Gandhi Bhavan and expressed their thanks towards AICC president Sonia Gandhi for taking a decision to carve T state.

In the evening, Deputy Speaker Bhatti Vikramarka, Marri Shashidhar Reddy and Minister Sunitha Lakshma Reddy met Digvijay Singh separately.

The minister said that she had urged Digvijay to prevail upon the state government to introduce the bill immediately in the Assembly.

According to her Digvijay Singh had assured her that he would coordinate with T leaders and Seemandhra leaders as well as the Chief Minister and try his best to see that it was passed in the Lok Sabha soon. In regard to the attitude of the Chief Minister, she said the AICC pointsman told her not to have any doubts and that the CM would cooperate in the process.