Hyderabad: The undue delay at the Centre over “removing inconsistencies” in the AP Reorganisation Act to hold MLC polls in Telangana has become a cause for worry among several aspirants, including ministers Tummala Nageswara Rao and Kadiam Srihari.
Both are not members of either House, and need to be elected with six months of their swearing in. Mr Nageswar Rao will have to quit if he is not elected to the legislature by June 16, and Mr Srihari by July 25.
Besides, there are 20-odd odd MLC aspirants, which includes those whose term has expired on March 29, and others whose last day in the Council is May 1.
Enquires by this DC revealed that the file was awaiting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s signature. He is expected to look into it after his return from his ongoing visit to Europe and Canada.
Sources said once Mr Modi appends his signature, the Union Cabinet needs to approve the amendment and it is most likely a Bill will be introduced in Parliament.
Any amendment to an Act needs to be approved by the Union Cabinet after which it goes to the President and then Parliament.
The process may not be over quickly: It took four months for Parliament to pass an amendment to the Reorganisation Act to increase the number of AP Council seats from 50 to 58 after the Union Cabinet cleared it in December last.
TRS leader in Lok Sabha A.P. Jitender Reddy who has been entrusted the job of speeding up the process, said, “An Ordinance may be necessary to overcome inconsistencies.”
Mr Nageswara Rao and Mr Srihari have been assured that they would be elected as MLCs by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who was hoping that the Election Commission would complete the election process for the pending MLC vacancies before March, which did not happen.
According to S. Venugopalachary, Telangana’s Special Representative in Delhi, the file proposing “small” amendments was doing the rounds of the home ministry which is the nodal agency for conducting elections, and the law ministry and Rashtrapati Bhavan over the last few months and had reached the Prime Minister's Office.
“Once it is cleared by the Prime Minister, the file will go back to the home ministry from where it will go to the Election Commission with necessary instructions,” Mr Venugopalachary told this correspondent.
Almost every day, MLC aspirants are inquiring with TRS MPs and heads of the departments to track the file and are getting increasingly restless as there are conflicting opinions on the Centre going to Parliament get the small amendments passed.
