By IANS,
New Delhi : The government would soon inform the Lok Sabha about the steps being initiated to form a new Telangana state, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Thursday and added that information on the issue was being awaited from Andhra Pradesh.
The decision, he said, was taken very late in the night and there was no response from the state as yet. “We cannot make a statement at this stage,” Mukherjee told the Lok Sabha in response to Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani’s demand for a statement by the government on this issue.
Replying to Advani’s query about how the government would go about carving a separate Telangana from Andhra Pradesh, the 29th state of the country, he said: “All processes (in forming a new state) will be fully followed.”
The government, the minister added, would inform the house in a day or two about the steps being initiated to form the new state.
On behalf of the government, he appreciated Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) leader K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s decision to end his 11-day fast-unto-death.
Advani and Mukherjee congratulated Speaker Meira Kumar for the way she initiated a discussion in the house Wednesday on the deteriorating health of Rao, who was on a hunger strike demanding a separate Telangana state.
The Lok Sabha had expressed concern over the deteriorating health of Rao, who is also an MP.
Advani also congratulated the central government for agreeing to the demand for a separate Telangana state.
However, he criticised Home Minister P. Chidambaram for not informing the house about the roadmap being drawn to form the new state.