No action taken against defectors, party votes for Appropriation Bill
Telangana Congress leaders, Damodar Rajanarasimha, K. Jana Reddy, P. Sudarshan Reddy and Shabbir Ali. (Photo: DC/File)
Hyderabad: The main Opposition, the Congress, suddenly did a volte face on Friday against its own decision of insisting on a division to expose party MLAs who had switched sides. It instead ended up exposing its own lack of coordination.
The Congress had issued a Whip to all its MLAs asking them to be present in the House and to vote against the Appropriation Bill in order to nail the four party MLAs who had defected and to obtain evidence to prove their defection.
Accordingly senior party MLA N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, who spoke during the debate, opposed the Bill tooth and nail. However Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao appealed to all parties to support the Bill unanimously to send out a message on the commitment of the Telangana Assembly to achieve a golden Telangana.
Immediately, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr K. Jana Reddy, while seeking a clarification, agreed to the suggestion and even said that the Congress would dispense with the party Whip to oppose and categorically announced that the party would support the Bill.
In fact, TRS managers seems to have succeeded in creating confusion among Congress leaders by spreading a false story that the four Congress MLAs would abide by the Whip and vote against the government to prove that they were still with the Congress.
They also put out word that this development may mar the chances of getting the four MLAs disqualified as sought by the Congress in a petition which has already been submitted to the Speaker.
Following this, the Congress MLAs went into a huddle with Mr Jana Reddy and came to a conclusion that they should not press for division and insist on the MLAs to vote. This happened much before the Chief Minister asked all parties to support the Appropriation Bill unanimously.
Meanwhile, in the Legislative Council, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr D. Srinivas and Deputy Leader Mr Shabbir Ali vehemently tried to demand a division on the Industry Bill, but their efforts were scuttled by Legislative Council Chairman K. Swamy Gowd who only took a voice vote and refused to listen to their demands for a division.
Peeved over by this the Congress staged a walkout. When the second Bill came up for discussion, the Congress members again insisted on voting but the chairman once again obtained a voice vote and adjourned the House for lunch.
And when the Appropriation Bill reached the Council from the Assembly, the Congress once again demanded a division but they were told that there was no rule allowing either division or voting on the Bill since it was only a formality.
Chief Minister KCR in his reply told the Council that since the Assembly had passed the Bill unanimously, it would not be proper to oppose it.
Congress Legislature Party sources said that there was a clear cut lack of coordination among the two party units in the Assembly and the Council in scripting a strategy to expose the rebel legislators in both the Houses.
While the Congress in the Council insisted on a division on the two Bills, the party in the Assembly did not insist on the same. The episode served to expose the differences among the party's two units instead of exposing the rebel legislators who have now heaved a sigh of relief.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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