No impact, quips Diggy

New Delhi/Hyderabad: Within minutes of Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy showing ‘thumbs-up’ sign before going out of the Assembly on Thursday, the AICC General Secretary in charge of Andhra Pradesh affairs, Digvijay Singh, said that the constitutional requirements of getting comments from the Assembly had been fulfilled, and that the Central government would go ahead and introduce the Bill in Parliament. Speaking to the media in New Delhi, he said, "The AP Assembly has debated and discussed, and has given comments on the Bill which was referred to the honorable Assembly by the President. As the extension of one week expired today, the Bill will be returned to the President. The process has completed another milestone which is necessary for the bifurcation of the State.”

Digvijay Singh pointed out that the Bill was not voted on in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly. “As far as the resolution is concerned, it does not affect the Constitutional provisions under Article 3 for the creation of a new State in the Indian Union,” he said.

The Congress, he said, is attempting to get Bill passed. However, it requires the support of the Opposition, and he expressed the hope that the Opposition would rise to the occasion and keep its word. The GoM on Telangana would go through amendments and suggestions made by the Assembly and incorporate essential and necessary changes in the Telangana Bill and put them before the Union Cabinet.