The ruling Congress appears to be in no mood to suspend the Seemandhra Telugu Desam and YSR Congress members who disrupted the proceedings in the Assembly for the third day in a row on Monday.
It sees a political design by the two parties to isolate the Congress in Seemandhra by pushing the blame of bifurcation on it. “Why should we suspend them? The Congress is already at the receiving end in Seemandhra after the Centre’s decision. Now, they want to gain politically by ensuring that the Congress is held responsible for the division,” a senior Minister said.
The Congress has not fully closed its option on suspending the members to facilitate commencement of the debate on the Telangana Bill. Its leaders would prefer getting the consent of all the parties before moving a motion for suspension rather than taking the initiative on its own.
The Congress leaders are in discussion with the TDP and YSRC MLAs to convince them to allow the proceedings and make them understand the harm they would be causing to Seemandhra by pre-empting a debate. They are in a piquant situation as the debate must start before January 10 when the second spell of the winter session concludes. Only in such a situation they approach President Pranab Mukherjee and the Centre for extending the deadline for discussion.
The Legislature will be on a strong footing to seek extension of the deadline only if the debate was initiated and some progress achieved in that direction. “There is no scope for seeking extension a few days before the January 23 deadline. There is no way the Centre will be amenable to grant the extension if it is made towards the fag end of the 40-day deadline set by the President,” another Minister said.
