Telangana plot thickens

CM strips Sridhar Babu of legislative affairs portfolio, gives it to Sailajanath

• T Cong leaders call for Karimnagar district bandh today
• Deputy CM terms Kiran’s action ‘height of arrogance’

Hyderabad: Just three days ahead of the resumption of the session of the State Assembly to discuss the Draft T Bill, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy in a surprise move that amounts to taking the high command head-on, divested D Sridhar Babu of the all-important Legislative Affairs Portfolio on Tuesday, and allotted commercial taxes to him.

According to official sources, Minister Sake Saialjanath, a staunch supporter of United Andhra Pradesh, has been given the charge of Legislative Affairs. While Sridhar Babu hails from Telangana, Sailajanath belongs to Seemandhra. The import of the sudden change in portfolio is not lost on the political circles, which are, however, caught unawares by the timing.

Sridhar Babu has of late been critical of Kiran and had created a controversy in regard to proroguing the State Assembly recently. While Kiran had advised the Speaker to prorogue the Assembly, Sridhar Babu sat on the file. Later, when the T Bill came to the Assembly, a new controversy arose on whether the discussion on it had begun or not. While Kiran is of the view that the discussion has not taken off, Sridhar Babu maintains that it has begun. The change, reliable sources say, is the result of the confrontationist attitude of the Minister. The Chief Minister’s decision has come in for sharp criticism from Telangana leaders.

The Karimnagar district Congress unit has given a call for Karimnagar bandh on Wednesday to protest against removing the Legislative Affairs portfolio from Sreedhar Babu. TJAC chairman Prof Kodandaram described it “as the most uncivilised and undemocratic act. This indicates that the Seemandhra leaders are conspiring to create hurdles in the Assembly. He is behaving like a dictator. He wants that such measures should lead to trouble in the Assembly so that he can claim that discussion could not take place because of ruckus. If he thinks that he can stall the process by such methods, he is mistaken.”

TJAC co-chairman Mallepally Lakshmaiah said that Kiran’s decision amounted to inciting T people and all the protagonists of separate T state should unitedly fight against such tendencies. It was unfortunate that Kiran was resorting to acts that could incite people.

TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao called upon the people of the region to show utmost restraint as formation of T State was a certainty and neither the Assembly nor Kiran can stop it. “The State is being divided as per constitutional provisions. The Centre is going ahead with the process under Article 3 of the Constitution.”

Deputy Chief Minister C Damodara Rajanarsimha called the act of Kiran as “height of arrogance.” He criticized Chief Minister had no faith in democracy. The former PCC president D Srinivas felt that Kiran should not have resorted to such cheap tactics. He does not seem to believe in democracy and hence the party high command should act immediately and take action against him, Srinivas said. TNGO leader Srinivas Goud demanded that Kiran should be sacked immediately.