AP CM skips Delhi visit due to House debate on Telangana Bill

Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy today skipped a proposed visit to Delhi to meet AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh to discuss the issue of Rajya Sabha polls in view of the ongoing Assembly session, where Telangana Bill is being discussed currently.

Reddy has informed Singh, in-charge of Congress affairs in Andhra Pradesh, that he is not coming to Delhi in view of the ongoing debate in the Assembly on the draft Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, official sources said. The CM was supposed to visit Delhi to meet Singh to discuss the next month's biennial elections to Rajya Sabha to fill six vacancies from the state.

President Pranab Mukherjee yesterday gave seven more days to the Assembly (till January 30) to debate the Bill before returning it to the Centre which has promised to table the legislation in the upcoming session of Parliament. The President's decision came following a request from the Andhra Pradesh government, which sought four weeks extension of the January 23 deadline fixed by him while sending the Bill to the Assembly last month. Reddy had also stayed away from the January 17 AICC meet in the national capital in view of the session.

Meanwhile, state Congress president Botsa Satyanarayana left for Delhi this afternoon, party sources said.

-PTI