Telangana Bill unconstitutional, threat to federalism: Seemandhra MLAs

Hyderabad: Legislators from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions strongly opposed the draft Bill on Saturday, which provides for creation of a separate state of Telangana, saying it was 'unconstitutional' and also a 'threat to India's federal structure'.

The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill-2013, forwarded by the President last year, is being debated in the Assembly.

"The draft Bill leaves us to wonder if the Constitution of India doesn't apply to Andhra Pradesh. The Bill is totally unconstitutional," State School Education Minister S. Sailajanath said.

Read on: Seemandhra’s MLAs go off track in debate

Continuing his address on the draft Bill, the Minister, who hails from Rayalaseema, questioned on what basis was Hyderabad being sought to be made the common capital of two states.

"If Hyderabad is common capital, are we (Seemaandhra people) tenants? Under which rule will Hyderabad be the common capital." Lok Satta Party President N Jayaprakash Narayan, who favours statehood for Telangana, however, criticised the way the bifurcation issue is being pushed by the Congress and the legislation has been drafted.

"The only objective of the Bill appears to be securing political gains for the ruling party," he maintained, adding it threatened the federal structure of India.

"Creation of Telangana state is a necessity. It's inevitable. But the state bifurcation should happen in such a manner that it doesn’t cause bad blood between people of different regions," the bureaucrat-turned-legislator noted.

Reeling out statistics related to development of different regions in AP – and drawing comparison with states like Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir– Narayan wanted special status granted to Rayalaseema in the event of bifurcation of AP.

"Rayalaseema is by far the most backward on various parameters. It should be given special status like that of Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand. If people wish, Rayalaseema could even be made a separate state with special status," he said.

YSR Congress, which had so far stayed away from the debate on the Bill, revealed its stand in the Assembly though at the end of his speech, party MLA Bhumana Karunakar Reddy said they would not like to be party to the discussion. The President had given time till January 23 for the Assembly to return the draft Bill.

"We only want voting on the Bill," Karunakar added.

Admitting that the YSRC indeed asked the Centre to go ahead with the bifurcation of the state under Article 3 on the Constitution, Karunakar, however, maintained that it was not a 'blanket approval'.

"We did tell the Centre to carry out the bifurcation process in accordance with Article 3. It didn't mean that we wanted the state to be split so arbitrarily," he clarified.

Article 3 says the aim of referring a reorganisation Bill to the legislature is to give the Assembly concerned an opportunity to express its views.

It also states Parliament is not bound to accept or act upon the views of the legislature. He recalled the numerous schemes launched by then Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy for the "overall development and welfare" of all the three regions of AP.

"Our leader did not discriminate between regions in terms of development," he noted.

There was a verbal exchange between the YSRC MLA and the minister when the latter accused the former of taking part in the debate only after the party stood exposed.

"The veil on your face has been uncovered, exposing your real stand on the bifurcation issue. Hence, left with no option, you are now taking part in the debate after having disrupted the Assembly for over ten days," Sailajanath said.

Main Opposition TDP, too, slammed the YSRC, saying it was the late Rajasekhara Reddy who sowed the seeds for the Telangana statehood demand during his rule.

The YSRC members then rushed to the Speaker's podium leading to adjournment of the proceedings for the ten minutes.

Subsequently, the debate continued smoothly with members of BJP and legislators from Telangana taking part in it before the House was adjourned for the day. The debate will continue on Monday.