Rosaiah faces a divided House in Budget session

Hyderabad, Feb. 7: The Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, will be facing his first long budget session of the state Assembly amid growing indiscipline in his own party.

The first legislative session he faced as CM in last December was abruptly adjourned sine die without transacting any useful business following en masse resignations of MLAs from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema, protesting the statement by the Union home minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, that the state will be bifurcated.

Mr Rosaiah returned to the capital on Sunday evening after a three-day visit to New Delhi, where the indiscipline of Congress MLAs was his chief grouse.

According to sources, he sought the intervention of the Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, and her political secretary, Mr Ahmed Patel, in bringing to heel Congress MLAs whose intransigent behaviour is a major cause for concern.

Mr Rosaiah is believed to have complained that even after the high command intervened and ordered Congress MLAs to withdraw their resignations, they did not do so and the Speaker came to his rescue by rejecting them.

Mr Rosaiah said he could only normalise the administration and development work in the state provided he had the cooperation of ministers and legislators. But what is going on now is a sort of free for all with ministers and legislators doing as they please and some even participating in activities that would damage the reputation of the party and the government.