After a day of wrangling between legislators from Telangana and Seemandhra, the A. P. Reorganisation Bill 2013 will be tabled in both the Houses of Legislature on December 16.
Speaker Nadendla Manohar and Council Chairman A. Chakrapani are expected to make an announcement in the two Houses about receipt of the Bill from the President’s office. Then Legislature Secretary S. Rajasadaram would read out the communication and have the copies distributed to the members.
Once the Bill is tabled, the Leader of the House can initiate the debate immediately as was done in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar legislatures. In case of Andhra Pradesh, the same procedure may not be possible because of sharp divisions and the Business Advisory Committee meeting may take a call on the duration of the debate.
High drama marked the shifting of draft bill from Secretariat to the Assembly on Friday afternoon. The Chief Secretary’s office in ‘C’ Block was provided with additional security from Thursday evening after bundles were received from Centre. Then around Friday afternoon, unusual security cordon was thrown in front of the building and the security personnel took position making onlookers wonder about the heightened alert. A few minutes later, bundles of the Bill (370 in all) were loaded in a vehicle and sent to Assembly through the Secretary, GAD (Political).
Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy gave a twist to the draft Bill copies wondering whether it contained translated copies in Telugu and Urdu. “Giving Telugu and Urdu translation copies is must. But, the Bill has been signed by President and it may make our job difficult to get it translated without Rashtrapati Bhavan’s permission,” he said.
Delay in receiving the Bill in the Legislature led to privilege notices being given to the Assembly Speaker and the Council chairman against Chief Secretary P. K. Mohanty.
Complaint against CSIn the petition, Congress MLCs alleged that he had not only disobeyed the President’s orders to circulate the draft Bill copies among the legislators but also belittled the legislature with his attitude.
In Assembly, the notice given by TRS, Congress, BJP and CPI parties demanded resignation of the Chief Minister for disobeying the President’s orders.
