AP Assembly concludes debate; rejects bifurcation Bill

Adopts resolution rejecting it

Andhra Pradesh legislative Assembly Speaker N Manohar on Thursday announced the conclusion of debate on the AP Reorganisation Bill, 2013, amid clear signs that the President of India was unlikely to extend the deadline further.

“The time given by the President is coming to an end today and there is a need to conclude the discussion,” the Speaker told the members soon after reconvening the House after a couple of adjournments in the morning.  The Bill was introduced in the House on Dec 16, 2013. While the six-week time initially given for sending the views of the legislature ended on Jan 23, the President had extended the deadline by seven more days, up to Jan 30 (today), after CM N Kiran Kumar Reddy sought four more weeks to complete the discussion.

However, no response came from the Rashtrapati Bhawan for the second time when the chief minister asked for three more weeks again, amid reports that the Group of Ministers was already scheduled to meet on February 4 to hold consultations on the proposed bifurcation Bill ahead of the Union Cabinet meeting.

The Speaker said the views, both verbal and written, expressed by the members on the Bill would be sent as the views of the legislature to the President.

Unaware of the chair’s move, members from both the regions continued with slogan shouting in support and against the division while the Speaker quickly closed the proceedings.

After concluding the debate part by quickly reading out the statistics of the discussions involving speeches and written views, the Speaker then tabled the contentious resolution moved by Kiran Reddy seeking rejection of the Bill.

Within moments of putting the resolution to the voice vote, the Speaker declared that the motion was carried. He then adjourned the House sine die. The motion was carried with a voice vote since the Telangana region has a total strength of 119 members while 159 members from coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions were present even after having 16 vacancies in those two regions.

Resolution
The resolution stated the following: “The House while rejecting the AP Reorganisation Bill, 2013, resolved to request the honourable President of India not to recommend the Bill for introduction in Parliament as the Bill seeks to bifurcate the state of Andhra Pradesh without any reason/basis and without arriving at a consensus, in utter disregard to the linguistic and cultural homogeneity and economic and administrative viability of both regions.”