Andhra Pradesh Speaker N. Kiran Kumar Reddy has decided to seek legal opinion before taking a final decision on the spate of resignations by MLAs of the Congress, the TDP and Praja Rajyam following the Centre’s announcement on initiating the process of creation of Telangana State.
The number of resignations touched 130 on Friday. The Speaker is expected to consult the Advocate General on the action he should take on these letters and also whether floor leaders or presidents of political parties should be invited for discussions.
The Assembly rules specify that a member who desires to resign shall intimate in writing his intention to quit in a prescribed form and shall not give any reason for his resignation. If a member gives any reason or introduces any extraneous matter the Speaker, at his discretion, could omit such words and the same shall not be read out in the House.
Linguistic basis
A large number of Congress legislators from Andhra and Rayalaseema regions in their resignation letters said: “Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru with the idea of creating linguistic states had constituted Fazal Ali Commission. This commission decided that Telugu speaking people of Andhra and Telangana should be united. The decision to create Telangana State is taken against the spirit of linguistic State propagated by the Commission. Reposing full faith in late Nehru’s policy, I am resigning from the State Assembly. Please accept the letter.”
Letters to be examined
The Speaker, according to sources, is likely to examine whether the formatting of the letters addressed to him was proper and this would be followed by ascertaining whether the member was under pressure or was induced to take the decision.
“The Chair can straight away reject the resignation if it is of the view that the member was under some sort of duress,” an official said.
Moreover, a decision is likely to take some time as the Speaker is not bound to accept or reject the resignations within a time frame.
