Kiran comes in for severe criticism

• Why he tabled the Bill in the first place, TDP chief criticises
• YSRCP slams Kiran for not responding on its notices
• Jana says Assembly has no right to reject the Bill
• TRS feels Kiran is merely misleading people
• Lok Satta says confusion over discription of Bill

Hyderabad: Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy’s aggressive stance questioning the validity of AP Reorganisation Bill 2013, drew severe flak from the opposition as well as treasury benches.

The Leader of Opposition, N Chandrababu Naidu, was quick to react and questioned Kiran as to why he had kept silent all these days if he knew that the bill was not in order. He wondered why it took 23 days for a Chief Minister to come to a decision that the Bill was defective and had violated the provisions of the Constitution.

He felt that Kiran had either deliberately kept quiet or things were happening without his knowledge. He said if Kiran knew that the Bill was defective, he should not have allowed it to be tabled in the Assembly. Bihar Assembly had done this in the past, he said. He reminded the Chief Minister that the Assembly was not subservient to the President and he cannot play the role of a big brother. The Assembly, he said should not have accepted anything that was unconstitutional.

The CM’s speech appears to be for political gains, he said. Naidu also wanted to know whether the Chief Minister was aware that the Centre had sought information pertaining to various departments from the State before preparing the draft bill. Responding to this, Kiran said that the officials had furnished information to the centre on his advice. YSRCP, which had given notices for resolution on December 12 and 16, said the Kiran government opposed them, saying there was no need for any.

Now, Kiran was s arguing against it. Congress party also did not react. Kiran’s change of heart was surprising, criticised Shobha Nagireddy. She also slammed Naidu, saying that for weeks after YSRCP gave the notices, he kept quiet on the bifurcation.

The Minister for Panchayat Raj, K Jana Reddy objecting to the assertion of Kiran that the Bill should be sent back said, said that the President had sent the draft Bill for eliciting the views of the legislature, and hence the Assembly had no right to reject it. He said they would complaint to AICC president Sonia Gandhi against Kiran.

TRS floor leader Etela Rajender said that Chief Minister was trying to mislead the people. Refuting the claims of Kiran that the Bill was faulty, he also found fault with him for presenting wrong information in regard to the naxal problem, sharing of resources like water, gas and coal. He said all these problems were not specific only the Andhra Pradesh. They are national problems, he said.

Referring to another statement by Kiran that if bifurcated there would be no guarantee of communal harmony, Rajender said that it was wrong to say that communal harmony would be there only if a state was big. There had been many communal incidents in bigger states across the country.

Lok Satta leader Jayaprakash Narayan demanded that the government should table the letters sent by the Home Secretary along with the Bill. “If President says Bill and Home Secretary says it is Draft Bill, then something is seriously wrong.”

AIMIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi also found fault with what Kiran had said. He felt that if Chief Minister knew that the Bill was not correct then he should have not allowed tabling it. He demanded that the government should summon the advocate general or constitute a panel of legal experts so that the doubts being raised by Chief Minister and opposition party leaders can be clarified.