Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, who is very keen to have a debate in the Assembly on the Telangana Bill, agreed on Tuesday to suspend YSR Congress MLAs as demanded by the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, BJP, CPI and Telangana MLAs belonging to the Congress and the Telugu Desam.
YSRC MLAs are stalling the working of the Assembly to demand that a resolution be passed in favour of keeping the state united, before taking up any discussion on the Telangana Bill.
In the Business Advisory Committee meeting on Monday, Telangana MLAs demanded that YSRC MLAs be suspended from the House. The CM told Anam Ram Narayan Reddy and N. Raghuveera Reddy, both ministers, that they must persuade the YSRC and Seemandhra TD MLAs to cooperate and allow a discussion on the Telangana Bill.
CM against suspending TD leaders
Ministers Anam Ramnarayana Reddy and N. Raghuveera Reddy met YSRC MLAs G. Srikant Reddy and Balineni Srinivasula Reddy, and TD MLAs Dhulipalla Narendra and Payyavula Keshav separately. The YSRC MLAs stuck to their demand. They said the government was free to suspend them from the House.
TD Seemandhra members told the ministers that if the YSRC MLAs decide to participate in the debate, then they too will cease to object. But if the government suspends the YSRC MLAs, the latter will get political mileage out of it and they are not in favour of such a move. They said that if the government suspends the YSRC MLAs then it must suspend them too.
When the two ministers conveyed the outcome of their meetings to the Chief Minister, Kiran Kumar Reddy said he will not suspend the Seemandhra TD MLAs. The Chief Minister had a reason for saying so, and it’s all because of how the numbers stack up.
Both the Telangana and Seemandhra MLAs are playing the numbers game to get the upper hand. In the Telangana region there are 119 MLAs and one nominated member. In the Seemandhra region there are 175 MLAs, with 15 vacancies. The YSRC has 23 MLAs and in Seemandhra, the TD has 43 MLAs.
The strategy of the Telangana MLAs is that if YSRC and TD Seemandhra MLAs are suspended from the House, the strength of the Seemandhra MLAs in the House comes down. At present the Seemandhra region has 160 MLAs. After the suspension of YSRC and TD Seemandhra MLAs (23+43=66) the strength of the Seemandhra MLAs will be 94, and the Telangana MLAs will be 120, including nominated members.
The number of MLAs who will oppose the Telangana Bill will thus be less than the MLAs who will support the Bill. Keeping this danger in mind, the Chief Minister did not agree to suspend TD Seemandhra MLAs. If only YSRC MLAs are suspended, the strength of Seemandhra MLAs in the House will be 137, and the strength of Telangana MLAs will be 120.
The fate of the discussions on the Telangana Bill depends on the YSRC and TD Seemandhra MLAs. The Chief Minister told the media after the Assembly adjourned for the day that he wants a discussion on the Telangana Bill in the House. He said that the Speaker should take the initiative to begin the discussion and all parties should cooperate with the Speaker.
Next: T men refuse to vote on Bill
T men refuse to vote on Bill
Hyderabad: Telangana MLAs have done a U-turn on voting and amendments to the clauses of the Telangana Bill.
Telangana MLAs of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, BJP, Telugu Desam and the Congress, including Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Raja Narasimha had accepted that voting on the Bill could be allowed and amendments to clauses in the Bill could be submitted. Speaker Nadendla Manohar said as much in the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting held on Monday.
But within 24 hours, the Telangana MLAs made a U-turn and told the Speaker that they won’t agree to the voting or submission of amendments. They gave a letter to this effect to the Speaker.
The arrival of BJP MLA Nagam Janardhan Reddy on the scene changed these opinions.
Nagam submits T Bill memo
BJP legislator Nagam Janardhan Reddy submitted a memorandum to the Speaker, Chief Mini-ster and all floor leaders, which said that the Telangana Bill will be passed by Parliament, and is referred to the Assembly only for the Assembly to express its views. There is no provision to make amendments to the Bill in the Assembly, and the members will not have any right to amend the clauses, the memo stated.
Mr Janardhan Reddy said that in his letter to the state government and the Speaker, sent along with the Telangana Bill, President Pranab Mukherjee had stated: “In pursuance of the proviso to Article 3 of the Constitu-tion of India I hereby refer the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2013, to the state legislature of Andhra Pradesh for ‘expressing its views’.” Thus the Assembly has no jurisdiction to amend the Bill, Janardhan Reddy said in his memo.
After hearing this, MLAs belonging to the TRS, Congress and the BJP met in Raja Narasimha’s chamber, with minister K. Jana Reddy and others. In that meeting, the TRS and Congress members said they will oppose voting, but they have no objection to submission of amendments to the clauses of the Telangana Bill. Janardhan Reddy said they have to oppose not only voting but also amendments. He said that accepting the amendments means accepting voting. He showed them the memorandum that he had submitted to the Speaker. The Telangana MLAs then decided to oppose both voting and making amendments to the Bill.
Meanwhile, government chief whip Gandra Venkataramana Reddy also told reporters on Tuesday that the state Assembly has no right to make amendments to the Telangana Bill. He said members only have the right to express their opinion on the Bill. He alleged that Seemandhra leaders, including the Chief Minister, have conspired to stall the Telangana Bill in the Assembly.
Meanwhile, Jana Reddy along with J. Geeta Reddy, T. Harish Rao, K.T. Rama Rao, Revanth Reddy and other Telangana leaders met retired Supreme Court Justice B. Sudarshan Reddy and discussed the strategy to be followed with regard to the Telangana Bill.
