CM says T-Bill referred by Prez full of mistakes, gives notice seeking resolution to reject it.
Hyderabad: In a virtual showdown with the Congress high command the Centre, Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy on Saturday gave notice to the Speaker seeking a resolution to reject the Telangana Bill that was referred to it by the President.
An identical notice was served to the Legislative Council Chairman by the Leader of the House and endowments minister C. Ramachandraiah.
It is for the presiding officers to decide the fate of the notices; it will not be easy to reject them since the notices under relevant rules were served by none other than the leaders of the Houses.
This move by Kiran Kumar Reddy is supported by a majority of Congress legislators from Seemandhra. Cutting across party lines, several Telangana legislators have decided to oppose the resolution. They have appealed to the Speaker not to allow it. If it is put to vote on Monday, the resolution will be adopted as both the Houses are dominated by Seemandhra legislators.
It is common knowledge that Kiran Kumar Reddy intends to embarrass both the Congress and the UPA government on the bifurcation issue at the end of the Assembly session. The Chief Minister thought it would be better for him to serve the notice on itself so that the House can discuss the resolution and adopt it on Monday.
Since the Opposition Telugu Desam and YSR Congress too have been demanding that the Speaker take up a resolution rejecting the bifurcation Bill, Kiran Kumar Reddy has forced them to support him.
TD members from Seemandhra have welcomed the Chief Minister’s resolution and confirmed their support. The resolution given under Rule 76 (in the Council) and Rule 77 (in the Assembly), if allowed by both the presiding officers and voted in the Houses, will be adopted since a majority of MLAs and MLCs are from Seemandhra.
Once adopted, the resolution will be sent to the Union home ministry, which will be informed that the Andhra Pradesh Legislature did not agree with the Bill in the present form.
Whether it is a Bill or resolution, any question that comes before the Legislature should be decided by majority of the House, as per Article 189 of Constitution Kiran Kumar Reddy, a former Assembly Speaker, appended his signature on the notice on Saturday afternoon and sent it to Manohar through legislative affairs minister S. Saijalanath.
Next page: Constitution violated in T Bill, says Kiran
Constitution violated in T Bill: Kiran
Participating in the debate on the Telangana Bill, Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy said it was formulated in violation of constitutional procedures, conventions and parliamentary practices; it was drafted by people with limited knowledge of the state.
He said the Bill was drafted without taking into consideration the Justice Srikrishna Committee recommendations, and the Sarkaria and Punch commission reports. He added that certain guidelines and procedures to be followed in drafting a Bill on bifurcation of a state were violated.
Quoting parliamentary procedures, the Chief Minister said that the Bill should contain the objectives, reasons and financial memorandum when it is sent to the President.
But the Bill which was sent to the Assembly did not contain these. He contended that the home ministry had sent the Bill to the President and the draft to the Assembly, as stated by the communiqué of the secretary of union home department.
He wanted the Centre to explain whom the state division would benefit; the Bill did not mention the advantages to the regions in the event of bifurcation.
The Chief Miniser asserted that there were several mistakes and violations of Constitution. He asked where was the provision in the Constitution that allowed a common capital.
He asked TRS members whether they would accede to a common capital and entrusting law and order to the Governor. In the Bill, the Centre did not mention funds being earmarked for Seemandhra. “For every question, the reply was, ‘We will consider, we will see, we will do’,” he said.
Quoting Justice Jeevan Reddy in the Bommai case, the Chief Minister asked, “Without the Centre stating its opinion how can we state our opinion?”
He questioned the TRS leaders if the Article 371D was in effect as mentioned in the Bill. If so, how could they claim that one lakh jobs would be available to Telangana youth.
He expressed his unwillingness to continue as Chief Minister when the high command informed about the state division. He said that he had informed AICC President Sonia Gandhi that the state bifurcation worried him in the same way as his father’s death. He said he would not compromise with anyone on tge bifurcation issue.
Next page: Doubts over Bill passage
Doubts over Bill passage
There will be widespread ramifications if the resolution of the state Assembly on Telangana Bill is adopted.
- The Union home ministry, which is the nodal agency for the Telangana Bill, will have to take the House resolution and reject it outright.
- Before preparing the final Bill on Telangana, the Union Cabinet will have to take the House resolution into cognizance and inform the President.
- If the Centre is prepared to rectify the defects as pointed out by the AP Legislature during the debate on the resolution, they will have to send the rectified/modified Bill back to the legislature. This would take a couple of months. This means there will be be no Telangana Bill in the ensuing Parliament session or even before the next general elections.
- If the Union Cabinet refuses to look into the resolution and the Telangana Bill is introduced in Parliament, Opposition members may embarrass the Centre by pointing out that that it had failed to get support from its own party governmentIt will be debated why the AP Legislature rejected the Bill.
- The BJP, the main Opposition in Parliament, may distance itself from supporting a defective Bill. The Chief Miniser who concluded his speech in the House earlier on Saturday, returned to his chambers in the lobby and summoned Ramachandraiah and handed over the draft copy of the resolution to be given to Legislative Council Chairman.
- The text of the resolution is as follows:
“The House while rejecting the AP Reorganisation Bill, 2013, resolves to request the President of India not to recommend the AP Reorganisation Bill, 2013, for introduction in Parliament as the Bill seeks to bifurcate the state of Andhra Pradesh without any reason/ basis and without arriving at a consensus, in utter disregard to the linguistic and cultural homogeneity and economic and administrative viability of both regions.
The Bill also completely ignores the very basis of formation of state of Andhra Pradesh, the first linguistic state created in Independent India”.
( Source : dc )
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