Centre to expedite High Court bifurcation: Vinod Kumar

HYDERABAD: Union home minister Rajnath Singh has assured chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao that the process of bifurcating the Hyderabad High Court will be expedited.

 “We have filed a petition in the Supreme Court for  bifurcation of the combined High Court. The petition will come up for hearing this week,” Singh told Rao in Delhi on Sunday.

The petition seeking bifurcation of the Hyderabad High Court between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh may come up for hearing before the Supreme Court any day after Monday, TRS MP B Vinod Kumar told reporters in Delhi on Sunday.

Asked about the talk of early polls, Vinod Kumar confirmed that there was a discussion on early polls.
“It is a fact that there is a discussion on early polls in the party. But, there is nothing of the sort of fixing a muhurtam for early polls as reported by a section of the press. The early polls proposal is under discussion and there is no doubt about it,” Vinod Kumar said and hastened to add that even if the state cabinet dissolved the Assembly, it was the prerogative of the Election Commission, an autonomous institution, to decide when to conduct elections to the Assembly.

Kumar said that they were in Delhi to meet the Union ministers to take up the pressing issues of the people of the state.
“The chief minister held a review of the working of the roads and buildings department in Delhi today. I will meet the Union minister of road transport and highways on Monday and discuss state issues,” Vinod Kumar said.

Another TRS MP, Boora Narsaiah Goud, said that they had submitted three memorandums to Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on interest dues to women self-help groups, FRBM limit and release of the fourth instalment of funds to backward districts.
ECI to hold all-party meet today on women’s quota bill

The Election Commission of India (ECI) is holding an all-party meeting in Delhi on Monday to elicit the views of political parties on matters including the women’s reservation bill. The TRS will support the move for quota for women in legislative bodies. “The women’s reservation bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha and awaits passage by the Lok Sabha. The EC is holding a meeting on Monday to know our views on the bill. It also wants to know if political parties will provide quota for women in their party committees or not. The TRS is in favour of women reservation bill and also in favour of women’s quota within the parties,” Vinod Kumar said. On behalf of the TRS, Vinod Kumar will attend the ECI’s meeting on Monday.

The ECI will also elicit the views of political parties on whether there should be a ceiling on the expenditure of political parties or not.  There is a ceiling on expenditure of MLA and MP candidates but there is no ceiling on the total expenditure of any political party.