President Pranab suggests tribunal for Andhra-Telangana issues?

President Pranab Mukherjee, the former trouble-shooter of the Congress party, may informally ‘guide’ the Union government in drafting the bill on the creation of Telangana.

He will be acting ostensibly on the basis of a memorandum received by him from 35 Members of Legislative Assembly of the Andhra Pradesh’s Congress unit.

Indications of Mukherjee’s interest in the matter can be gauged from the queries sent by the Rashtrapati Bhavan secretariat to senior home ministry officials, seeking clarifications on how the government is going to handle various tricky issues, including those listed in the MLAs’ memorandum.

Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L Narasimhan, who is currently in Delhi, has already held two meetings with Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

The governor also called on Mukherjee during his three-day trip to the capital to emphasise on the need to quickly complete the process of formation of the new state.

Gandhi has also met Mukherjee to share her concerns over the languid pace in drafting the Telangana bill, in spite of the government putting together a Group of Ministers to sort out any niggling issues.

The President’s suggestion — about leaving problematic issues like sharing water and power between Telangana and the rest of Andhra Pradesh for a tribunal headed by a retired judge — has found favour with the government.

Other contentious issues include the status of Hyderabad, the distribution of Krishna Godavari basin off-shore gas, admissions in central universities and educational institutions, division of the state police force and the imbalance of defence establishments in Telangana.