New Delhi: With Seemandhra Congress MPs bracing themselves for a showdown with their party, Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde indicated that disciplinary action may be initiated against them. “They (MPs) are from a disciplined force. If there is any indiscipline, the party will take care of that,’ Shinde told the media on Tuesday.
He said that the MPs’ notice on their no-confidence motion could not taken up on account of the uproar in the House. “Today, the House was not ready to discuss, no one is ready to listen. There was confusion and then the House was adjourned,” he said.
He said that Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar would take a call on whether or not to admit the motion. “The Speaker does her own work, the government does its own. The Speaker acts on each motion as per the rules,” he said.
Refusing to set any timeframe to table the Telangana Bill in Parliament, Shinde said, “Let us complete this process, then we will see.”
Diggy to tune up MLAs for T
The proposed visit of AICC general secretary and state Congress affairs in-charge Digvijay Singh on December 12, the day the state Assembly’s Winter Session starts, is turning out to be very controversial.
Many Seemandhra Congress MLAs and party leaders are angry at his attitude towards them on the issue of the state’s bi’furcation and are opposing his visit.
All the Seemandhra Congress MLAs, including Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and PCC president Botsa Satyanarayana, have announced that they will oppose the Telangana Bill when it comes before the Assembly.
According to sources, the main purpose of Mr Singh’s visit is to convince the Seemandhra MLAs to drop their opposition to the Bill.
Seemandhra MLAs are in no mood to comply and say his visit will lead to unnecessary tension and the situation may in fact deteriorate further. AP Non-Gazetted Officers association president P. Ashok Babu has said protesters will raise slogans against Singh.
The presence of Mr Singh in Hyderabad on December 12 seems to suggest that the Bill will be put before the Assembly by then or at least during the Winter Session.
If Mr Singh brings pressure to bear on the legislators to change their stance, two or three ministers and around 10 MLAs may change their decision.
A Seemandhra Congress leader, who is close to Singh, said, “I don’t know why he is coming now when the Seemandhra MLAs are so angry with the Congress and with him too.
His visit to Hyderabad will bring no change among the MLAs. My personal opinion is it is better if Digvijay cancels his visit.”
Seemandhra Congress leaders believe that if the Telangana Bill does not come before the Assembly before December 12, Singh may cancel his visit to Hyderabad.
The Business Advisory Committee of the state legislature will meet on Wednesday at 4 pm to decide how many days the Winter Session of the Assembly will last.
Next: UPA is committed to Telangana formation, says Shinde
UPA is committed to T formation: Shinde
Hyderabad: Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Tuesday said the UPA government was committed to the cause of Telangana and preferred to enact the Bill during its current term.
Asked if a special session would be convened for the purpose, Shinde said, “Let us complete the work in this session. Then we will see.” Justifying his party’s move to carve out Telangana, he said, “It was part of the Congress party’s manifesto in 2004 and there was an announcement in this regard in 2009. The whole of AP?knew what was going to happen.”
Rejecting the charge that the Centre was setting a bad precedent by invoking Article 3 to divide a state without the backing of an Assembly resolution, Shinde said: “It is according to law that the Central government has been allowed to proceed with its move to bifurcate the state.”
Mr Shinde said the draft Bill is with the President, and that it is up to him to decide on the time to be given to the AP?Assembly to express its views.
