Voting in assembly must on Telangana bill, says Kiran Reddy

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy insisted that voting has to take place in the assembly on the bill for formation of separate Telangana state as this is the only way to elicit opinion of the house.

The chief minister told reporters Saturday that opinion of the house mean voting and not the opinion of individual legislators.

The chief minister, who is opposed to bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, said no state was bifurcated without voting on reorganization bill in the assembly.

He pointed out that it was only after voting in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar assemblies that Uttarakhand and Jharkhand were carved out respectively.

Leaders from Telangana have been saying that voting on the bill is not compulsory as the president has referred the bill to the assembly only for its opinion.

Kiran Reddy hoped that debate on the bill would begin on Monday. "It will be better if the debate starts early," he said.

The debate on Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill 2013, which was tabled in the assembly on Dec 16, could not be taken up due to protests by legislators from Seemandhra opposing the state's bifurcation.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha, who is from Telangana, said it was unfortunate that the bill was not taken up for debate. He said the chief minister's only aim was to remain in office till the last minute.

Claiming that the chief minister is facing opposition from Seemandhra Congress leaders, he predicted that there will be significant political developments after Jan 10.

The deputy chief minister said no one can stop formation of Telangana state as both Congress and BJP at the national level were supporting it.