Hyderabad: There were several interruptions during Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy’s speech on Wednesday.
His Cabinet colleague K. Jana Reddy wanted to know whether the Chief Minister’s statement that he was opposed to the Telangana Bill was made in his capacity as the leader of the House or in his individual capacity.
He was supported by TRS MLAs who stormed into the podium, disrupting the Chief Minister’s speech for about half-an-hour.
“If the Chief Minister is opposing the Telangana Bill in his capacity as the leader of the House, we want to clarify that we are not party to it,” Jana Reddy said.
Speaker Nadendla Manohar and minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, intervened to say that there was no point in raising this doubt as the Chief Minister speaks only in his capacity as the leader of the House on the floor of the Assembly.
Kiran Kumar Reddy went on to fault the party high command for taking such an important decision like bifurcation of the state without the necessary constitutional steps such as setting up a state reorganisation committee or judicial committee.
“P. Chidambaram had made a statement in the Rajya Sabha that all constitutional norms will be followed during the bifurcation of the state. The constitutional norms say that a resolution has to be adopted by respective Legislative Assemblies. The same was followed during the NDA regime. It’s unfortunate that we have to now ask our party why such procedures are not being followed in the case of Andhra Pradesh,” Reddy said.
He also criticised his party high command for not considering the recommendations made by Justice Srikrishna Committee. “A majority of the members of the Srikrishna Committee favoured the sixth recommendation, which is not bifurcation.”
Reddy said the merger of Hyderabad state with Andhra was not by force. “It was done as per the aspirations of leaders and people of both the regions at that time. In fact, then Telangana chief minister Burgula Ramakrishna announced on the floor of the Assembly that he was for Visalandhra and it alone will enable development of Telugu people.”
He recalled the representations made to the Centre by then MPs from Karimnagar and Nizamabad to ensure that Hyderabad was the capital city, when Kurnool was being considered at that time.
Reddy recalled the historical speech made by then prime minister Indira Gandhi, in 1972, about the need for Andhra and Telangana to stay united.
The TD, TRS, BJP, CPI and the MIM raised objections to the Chief Minister’s speech and sought clarity on various issue. The Speaker said the Chief Minister will continue his speech on Thursday and adjourned the House at around 8.30 pm.
