Five rebel Congress MPs, who recently tabled no-trust motion against the UPA Government in protest against the proposed division of Andhra Pradesh, on Saturday urged President Pranab Mukherjee to stall the bifurcation process or ensure that majority opinion of the Assembly prevailed.
After attacking the UPA Government and Congress leadership for going ahead unilaterally in regard to division of the State at a ‘Meet-the-press’ programme here, the MPs—Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, Undavalli Arun Kumar, Lagadapati Rajagopal, Sabbam Hari and G.V. Harsha Kumar—called on Mr. Mukherjee at Rashtrapathi Nilayam here and urged him to ascertain the political motive behind bringing the Telangana Bill.
Earlier at the ‘Meet-the-Press’ organised by Andhra Pradesh Journalists Forum, the rebel MPs claimed that they were able to mobilise the support of 70 Lok Sabha members for the no-trust motion and the UPA government had deliberately encouraged disorder in the House to prevent the motion from being taken up. Making it clear that they would table no-trust motion again, they said the Government would collapse when it comes up for debate and no Bill could be considered. “That is our target”, Mr. Harsha Kumar said.
Insisting that the debate on the AP Reorganisation Bill should take place in the Assembly, they expressed confidence that majority members would oppose it. In such a scenario, the President’s decision would be most crucial after the Bill was sent back to him by the Assembly.
The MPs lashed out at the Congress central leadership for taking a one-sided and unilateral decision with regard to bifurcation. They said none of them was consulted before the CWC took the decision to divide the State. “We want to fight till the last minute to keep the State united,” Mr. Sambasiva Rao said.
Mr. Sabbam Hari said the decision to bifurcate the State was taken for political gain and not for the benefit of the people.
‘Morally incorrect’In the memorandum submitted to the President, the MPs said the UPA Government was in minority and it was morally incorrect on its part to move Telangana Bill “whimsically that too for political reasons at this fag end of its term”. It said that a cursory look at the Bill would reveal that it was prepared for political reasons, hence, the new government might not agree to the financial commitments made by the UPA government.
It said the Telangana Bill was full of errors and mistakes as it was prepared hurriedly to take mileage in the forthcoming general elections.
Five Telangana Congress MPs, Ponnam Prabhakar , Gutha Sukhender Reddy, K rajagopal Reddy, Madhu Yaskhi and S Rajaiah urged the President to send the bifurcation Bill to Parliament within prescribed timeframe.
