File photo of Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde
The Union Cabinet will today discuss the report on Telangana and the draft bill to create the new state as the Group of Ministers completed its work tonight. Among the proposals cleared by the ministers' panel are a bigger Telangana state and a mechanism for sorting out the water sharing disputes.
Emerging from an hour-long meeting, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde told reporters that the ministers' panel has "completed the process and the Cabinet will discuss the recommendations tomorrow".
Sources said the panel is understood to have recommended merger of the two districts of Rayalseema - Kurnool and Anantpur - with proposed Telangana despite strong opposition from Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and some Congress leaders.
Both Kurnool and Anantpur have proximity to Hyderabad and have a sizeable Muslim population.
However, a final decision will be taken by the Union Cabinet today.
If the proposal is accepted, undivided Andhra Pradesh would be divided equally and the two states would get 21 Lok Sabha seats each, 147 seats each in the assembly and 45 seats in the legislative council.
The Group of Ministers, in its meeting, fine-tuned issues related to distribution of assets, sharing of water, demarcation of boundaries and divisions of officers' cadre.
The panel is believed to have recommended providing special status to both the states under Article 371-D of the Constitution.
The issue of Hyderabad continues to be contentious as Seemandhra leaders are demanding protection of lives and property of Seemandhra people settled in Hyderabad after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.
One of the options is handing over law and order responsibility and revenue department to the central government under a special provision of the Constitution.
The meeting of the Group of Ministers, chaired by Mr Shinde, was attended by Union Ministers A K Antony, P Chidambaram and M Verappa Moily among others.