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Union minister to quit over Telangana

By Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad
May 22, 2006 18:49 IST

Piqued over the UPA government's reluctance to unveil a timetable for the formation of separate Telangana state, Telangana Rashtriya Samiti leader and Union Minister of State for Rural Development A Narendra is likely to announce resign from the Cabinet on Tuesday.

According to TRS sources, Narendra, who is in Delhi, is expected to make the announcement of his resignation on the floor of Lok Sabha on the last day of its session, in protest against the 'deliberate delay' in the creation of Telangana state.

Narendra had set the deadline of May 22 for UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to give an assurance on expediting the process for enactment of the legislation on separate Telangana state.

Even as TRS founder and Union Labour Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao met Sonia Gandhi, Dr Singh and central leaders Ahmed Patel and Digvijay Singh recently to impress upon them the need for early steps on the issue, there has been no positive response from them so far.

Rao wanted the UPA sub-committee on Telangana, headed by Union Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, to submit its report by mid-May.  He also wanted the UPA government to bring the Bill on Telangana in the monsoon session of Parliament.

On the other hand, after holding a brief meeting of the UPA Sub-Committee, Pranab Mukherjee made it clear that the panel was far from completing its task, as the issue needed wider consultations to arrive at a consensus. Some parties favoured separate Telangana while others opposed it.

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

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