Hyderabad: In a new twist to the issue of debate on the AP Reorganisation Bill, 2013, Speaker N. Manohar on Monday asked members to submit amendments, if any, to any clause of the Bill before January 10.
The Speaker informed all parties in the Business Advisory Committee meeting that the amendments proposed by the members would be put to vote.
He came out with a procedure to be followed on the Bill after studying the precedents in the Uttar Pradesh and Bihar Assemblies, which had earlier dealt with Reorganisation Bills of Uttarakhand and Jharkhand respectively.
Significantly, the procedure paves way for legislators supporting a unified state, in particular Chief Minister N.Kiran Kumar Reddy, to move a motion against the Reorganisation Bill and ensure its passage as they enjoy a majority.
A similar motion was moved against the Reorganisation Bill in Bihar, which was defeated as the majority had agreed for division.
Apart from moving a motion, Manohar’s decision will also provide an opportunity to Seemandhra legislators to insist on retaining the unified status of Andhra Pradesh through amendments to the bifurcation clause in the Bill and get it passed.
On the other hand, the T-protagonists can also oppose a common capital, special powers to the Governor and other contentious issues through amendments to relevant clauses. But with 119 members in the 294-member Assembly, they may lose the numbers game.
The Union Cabinet, however, may or may not consider the amendments passed by the Assembly while preparing the final Bill to be placed before Parliament for approval.
The Speaker sought to end the stalemate over the debate and circulated a note in this regard in the BAC.
According to the note, Assemblies of Bihar and UP had voted on various amendments. In Uttar Pradesh, the then state government had proposed 29 changes and the Opposition parties had proposed four.
“The government-proposed changes were accepted while the Opposition proposed changes were rejected by voice vote,” said the note.
In case of the Jharkhand Bill, the Bihar Assembly had received 371 amendments on clauses from members besides motions opposing the Bill. The motion was rejected while some amendments were approved and others were rejected by voice vote.
