Draft bifurcation Bill: Kiran Reddy's move to reject Bill draws flak

Reddy says the Bill is not constitutionally valid and contains several loopholes

The Andhra Pradesh Assembly again turned into a shouting spectacle on Monday, triggered this time by chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy's move to seek outright rejection of the AP Reorganisation Bill, 2013, by the state legislative Assembly.

As soon as the session started, all the members from the Telangana region, including ministers, stormed the Speaker’s podium in protest against the notice given on Saturday by the chief minister to Speaker N Manohar for moving a resolution seeking to reject the Bill, timed almost at the fag end of the ongoing debate on the same.

The members declared they would allow the House to function only if the chief minister withdraws the said notice.

A section of members from the Seemandhra region belonging to the ruling Congress and Opposition TDP and YSR Congress also staged a similar demonstration in the Assembly in support of the chief minister’s move as well as similar notices given against the Bill by their respective parties.

The chief minister, who has emerged as the harshest critic of his own party's move to divide the state, went as far as saying that the Bill was not constitutionally valid and contained several loopholes when he addressed the Assembly for the third time in the ongoing debate on Saturday. Soon after his speech, he served the notice under rule 77 of the Assembly business rules seeking to move a resolution rejecting it.

In a draft resolution submitted to the Speaker, Kiran Reddy also sought to request the President not to recommend the Bill for introduction in Parliament “'as it seeks to bifurcate the state without any reason/basis and without a consensus”, raising a fresh political storm with Telangana leaders.

Political commentator and independent member of the state legislative council, Nageshwar, said the notice for moving a government resolution against the Bill did not have legal validity as the chief minister did not take the opinion of his council of ministers.

Pradesh Congress Party President and senior minister Botcha Satyanarayana, however, came out with a statement that they were not endorsing the CM’s line even though they opposed bifurcation.

Deputy chief minister Damodara Rajanarashimha in a letter to the chairman of the state legislative council, said the proposed resolution unlawfully encroached into the territory of Parliament. He requested the chairman to reject the notice given by the leader of the council.

‘Illegal , unconstitutional’
Former Supreme Court judge Justice B Sudarshan Reddy termed the notice as “absolutely illegal and unconstitutional”.  

“The AP Reorganisation Bill was sent by the President of India under Article 3 of the Constitution on which the state legislature has no jurisdiction. Therefore, moving a resolution to reject the Bill or advising the President against introduction of the Bill in Parliament is nothing but intruding into the constitutional duties of the President,” Justice Reddy told Business Standard.

When asked his views on the notice for a resolution served by the chief minister , Justice Reddy said he did not see it as an act of a chief minister as it was moved as a government resolution exceeding its own jurisdiction.

According to him, the President is aided and advised by his own council of ministers on these decisions and sometimes he would also use his individual discretion but the state Assembly does not figure anywhere in these matter. All that the state legislature can do is to exercise its right to express its views on the Bill, he said.

Focus back on Speaker
The focus once again has shifted to Speaker N Manohar as most political leaders agree that the fate of chief minister's notice depends on the former's response. According to some, this may just end up in sound and fury, as only three days are left for the Assembly to send its views to the President. The fresh deadline ends Jan 30.

The President had extended the time by one more week after the initial six-week time ended on January 23 after Kiran Kumar Reddy sought more time to debate the Bill.

According to Rule 77, any member or a minister who wishes to move a resolution shall give ten days notice of his intention and shall together with the notice submit the text of the resolution, which he intends to move. However, the Speaker can make the notice period shorter than ten days if he wishes so. Rule 81 says the Speaker shall decide on the admissibility of the resolution and may disallow a resolution or a part thereof, when in his opinion, it does not comply with the rules.

The Assembly is unlikely to function normally as Telangana members have vowed to stall the proceedings till the chief minister withdraws his notice. In these circumstances, the Speaker may have no choice but to adjourn the House sine die while announcing the House had deemed to have expressed its views on the Bill, according to some members.

Senior YSR Congress Party leader MV Mysoora Reddy said if the Assembly adopted a resolution, it gets a statutory nature forcing the Centre to reconsider its decision.

The YSR Congress Party had given a notice to Speaker under rule 77 demanding a similar resolution seeking the rejection of the bifurcation Bill.