Vijayawada: All eyes are on the AP Legislative Council, which will take up the two contentious Bills for consideration on Tuesday — one, on setting up three capitals, and the other repealing the AP Capital Region Development Authority.
With the Telugu Desam in majority in the Council, the YSRC government was busy working out options, including a compromise formula, wherein the Council would send back the Bills to Assembly for reconsideration without delay. The first option remains to engineer a split.
Sources revealed that several TD MLCs were pressurising their leadership to not antagonise Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy beyond a point.
Interestingly, a section of the YSRC government’s media managers leaked information, apparently as a threat to Telugu Desam MLCs, that the government would table a Bill recommending the scrapping of Council on Monday. The effort fell flat, though some newspapers fell for it unthinkingly and published the story. DC refrained from carrying the leak and the government made no such move today.
The YSRC convened a three-day session from Monday but the business of passing the two Bills was finished on day one itself. Sources said that the treasury benches would transact routine business on Tuesday, and await outcome in the Council. “We kept Wednesday as a reserve day and can take up the Bills for reconsideration, should the council send it back,” a minister said.
Inquiries by DC revealed that it would not be easy for the ruling party to have its way and finish the legislative procedure by Wednes-day, unless the Opposition either overtly or covertly supports the government agenda. As per rules, the Council will debate the Bills and send them back with certain amendments to the Assembly for reconsideration.
“The catch here is how much time would the Council chairman takes to fulfil the procedural obligation. The chairman might adjourn the House without completing the business or take his own time to send back the Bills to the Assembly with amendments,” an Assembly official pointed out.
Though the government is tight-lipped about the nature of the Bills, it is learnt that the treasury benches introduced the Bills as ‘money bills’.
“If it is a regular Bill, the consent of Council Chairman and Assembly Speaker and signing of the blue copy by both is mandatory for the Governor to give assent,” an official said, adding that Council Chairman’s approval is not mandatory in case of money bills.
