T Bill sent to Assembly

Hyderabad: As the political heat is building up both here and in Delhi on the T issue, President Pranab Mukherjee late on Wednesday night referred the Draft State Reorganisation Bill to Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary P K Mohanty The President has given six weeks time to discuss and send its opinion back to him.

The Bill is likely to reach the Chief Secretary on Thursday. He will then forward it to the Speaker of the State Assembly N Manohar and Chairman of the Legislative Council Chakrapani. A special BAC meeting would be convened and the presiding officers of both Houses will decide on the date when it would be taken up for discussion and the time that would be earmarked.

Incidentally, the high command’s pointsman Digvijay Singh is also reaching here on Thursday and will be meeting the party MLAs and leaders from Telangana and Seemandhra to ensure smooth passage of the draft Bill. Meanwhile, it was decided that the seven-day winter session of the State Assembly will commence on Thursday.

Since the draft T Bill did not reach the Speaker till Wednesday evening, the Business Advisory Committee decided that during the week-long session, it will discuss issues like the recent cyclones, the impact of Brijesh Kumar Tribunal verdict on Krishna waters, power tariff hike, implementation of SC, ST Sub-Plan and skyrocketing of prices of essential commodities.

But in view of the late night development, it is likely that the opposition will insist that a fresh BAC may be convened and the Bill be taken up for discussion as top priority item. Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and leader of opposition N Chandrababu Naidu did not attend the meeting today.

These two leaders have been avoiding participating in the BAC for some time. The government was represented by Deputy Chief Minister C Damodar Rajanarishma , Finance Minister A Ramanarayana Reddy and Legislative Affairs Minister D Sridhar Babu. When the TRS and TTDP members raised the issue of the possibility of the draft T Bill being sent to the Assembly on Thursday or Friday, the government assured them that it would then consider extending the session.

The Chief Whip told newsmen after the meeting that the government accepted the opposition demand for debate on issues like Krishna water tribunal verdict, cyclones and rehabilitation, Rachabanda and SC, ST Sub-Plan. The government also decided to install the statue of Dr BR Ambdekar in the Assembly premises.

Interestingly, minutes before the meeting, Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarsimha and government Chief Whip G Venkataramana Reddy along with TRS floor leader E Rajendar met the AIMIM Legislature party floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi at the latter’s office in the Assembly. They reportedly sought the cooperation of the party when the T Bill comes for discussion in the House.

A little before the meeting was over, floor leader of YSR Congress party Y S Vijayamma walked out of the meeting. She walked out as the government refused to agree to their demand to adopt a resolution in favour of United Andhra in the Assembly. She said YSRCP would move an adjournment motion demanding that the House pass a resolution to keep the state united. TDP Deputy Leader G Muddukrishnama Naidu said the party wanted the session to be held for at least two weeks but the government refused.

TRS floor leader E Rajendar said that his party wanted to discuss all issues before the Telangana Bill was forwarded to the Assembly. CPI floor leader G Mallesh, CPM leader J Ranga Reddy and BJP floor leader A Laxminarayana also demanded the government hold debate on people’s issues in the session.