BJP leaders divided over support to Telangana Bill

New Delhi: With the Vote-on-Account budget session entering the last lap from Monday, the T heat is building up in New Delhi. Both the major parties the Congress and BJP, which till Saturday claimed that they would pass the T Bill at any cost if necessary by a voice vote, sent confusing signals on Sunday. It remains to be seen if the T issue gets a nail-biting finish this week.

The BJP Parliamentary Board, which met at the house of party senior leader LK Advani lateon Sunday evening, is learnt to have resolved to press for revoking of suspension on Seemandhra MPs from Lok Sabha before debating the T Bill in the House. The senior leaders including leader of opposition Sushma Swaraj expressed different opinions on the issue.

While Advani felt that it was not proper to back the Bill at this stage and the party should insist that the government pass only the Vote-on Account budget and keep all important bills on hold, party president Rajnath Singh and the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, were of the opinion that the Bill should be passed with some amendments to protect the interests of Seemandhra people. But Advani is said to have opposed this suggestion. Sushma Swaraj was non-committal on the issue.

Meanwhile, the Seemandhra BJP leaders told the party leadership not to succumb to pressure from T leaders and support the Bill. They said if the BJP supports the T Bill, then they will take political holiday and will not participate in the elections in Seemandhra region. They said that the Centre has not accepted any of the 15 amendments suggested by them. If still BJP wants to go ahead and support the Bill, then it would be the end of road for the saffron party in Seemandhra region, they said.