BJP demands bill on Telangana during monsoon session

NEW DELHI: As the government inches towards formation of a separate Telangana, BJP today charged the Congress with "dilly-dallying" on the issue and demanded that the UPA dispensation not just make an announcement but bring a bill on it in the monsoon session of Parliament.

"There has been a demand for giving statehood to Telangana with Hyderabad as the capital and an integral part of the state but Congress has been dilly-dallying on the issue. We do not know what it is going to do. Congress has betrayed the people of the region for the last 56 years," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.

The remarks came even as Congress top brass is engaged in a series of discussions on the issue amid indications that an announcement is imminent.

"We reiterate our demand for Telangana. We don't want Congress to only make an announcement but also bring a bill in Parliament in the monsoon session," Javadekar said, adding that it will be passed by both Houses.

The BJP MP recalled that Congress had made an announcement in Parliament on December 9, 2009 that the process of formation of Telangana has begun. "Three and a half years have passed since then but nothing has been done. The government has betrayed the people," he said.

BJP refuted Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh's charge that it was against giving statehood to Telangana in 2000 when the NDA was in power.

"BJP has said at the national level that it is in favour of formation of Vidarbha (in Maharashtra) and Telangana. It was in our agenda in 1999 elections. Congress promised Telangana in 2004 (when it came to power) but has still not kept its word," Javadekar said.