The Union home ministry has prepared a draft Cabinet note on the creation of a separate Telangana state. The note, MHA sources said, will be sent to the Cabinet Secretariat to be laid before the Cabinet once Congress president Sonia Gandhi is back from the United States, where she has gone for a medical checkup, as “political clearance” is needed for such a sensitive subject.
Under governmental norms the Cabinet note on creation of a separate state has to be moved by the home ministry. It was prepared on the directions of home minister Sushilkumar Shinde. MHA sources said while the note was ready, it was awaiting final political clearance before being put up before the Cabinet.
Mrs Gandhi, who left for the US on September 2, is expected to return in about a week.
Once political clearance is given, the draft note will be sent to the law ministry for vetting, after which it will be sent to the Cabinet Secretariat for listing on the Cabinet agenda.
Mr Shinde had said on Saturday that his ministry was preparing the note for the Cabinet, and that it would come up soon.
The Congress Working Committee had taken a decision on Telangana and asked the government to prepare a resolution. “One process has been completed. Now it has come to the government and the second stage has started. It will come soon,” he said.
A Congress committee headed by defence minister A.K. Antony, which includes M. Veerappa Moily and Ahmed Patel, is holding consultations with all stakeholders, and will submit its report to the Congress president soon. It is being briefed on continuing protests in the Seemandhra region against the decision.
The Cabinet, after giving its approval on creating a state of Telangana, is expected to set up a GoM to go threadbare into issues arising out of the bifurcation of AP.