Telangana live: Will Cong bite the bullet and table bill today?

9.40 am: Will Cong bite the bullet and table bill today?

Will they? Won't they? That seems to be the biggest question surrounding the controversial Telangana bill that has seen Parliament continuously disrupted over the last two sessions.

The bill is all ready to go, but the Congress has so far refrained from tabling it in the Lok Sabha.

Reuters

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to hold talks with senior ministers at around 10.30 am Thursday to take a final call on whether to table the Bill or not.

The bill is likely to be pushed through by the Centre despite the fact that it has been advised that a constitutional amendment was needed after the law ministry said the bill could be moved in its current form, reported the Hindu.

If Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde rises to present the bill in the Lok Sabha he could be surrounded by party MPs to prevent opposing MPs from targeting him. The MPs from Seemandhra region who are opposed to the legislation have already finalised their strategy to disrupt the bill from being pushed through.

The BJP, while supporting the bill and the creation of the state, has said that the Congress needs to take note of the projects. Ministers and MPs from the region, including the six legislators expelled by the Congress, held a meeting on Wednesday night and almost all of them are likely to protest against the introduction of the Bill in the well of the House.

One of the expelled MPs is also expected to move a notice for no-confidence against the UPA government. An MP claimed that they have already mobilised the support of 37 MPs in the last two days. According to a report in the Times of India, a serious worry of the Congress government is that some of the protesting MPs could go through with their threats of attempting suicide either in the well of the House or on Parliament premises.

The report points out that since MPs cannot be patted down it has been made sure that CCTVs, metal detectors, and full body scanners are all functional. Fire extinguishers have been kept across the premises, there are additional fire engines and security outside the Parliament building has also been ramped up to prevent MPs from doing anything in Parliament premises.