AP House adjourned till January 3

The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly was on Thursday abruptly adjourned till January 3 without initiating a crucial debate on the draft Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2013.

There was no end in sight to the stalemate between Telangana and Seemandhra MLAs in the House. After the bill was introduced on Monday, Speaker Nadendla Manohar adjourned the Assembly, much to the chagrin of the Telangana members, who insisted on a debate on the draft bill.

The Speaker announced a fresh schedule for the Assembly session. It would be held from January 3 to 23 in two phases, from January 3 to 10 and again from January 16 to 23. A circular to this effect was issued to the members. The draft bill, referred to the state Legislature by President Pranab Mukherjee, has to be returned to the Centre by January 23, 2014.

The Seemandhara legislators, who vowed not to allow the debate, apparently succeeded as no business could be transacted after the draft bill was tabled. There was a lot of drama outside the House as word spread about the adjournment.

Telangana Rashtra Samiti, Bharatiya Janata Party and Communist Party of India MLAs from Telangana shot off a letter to the Speaker, requesting him to continue the session.

Congress MLAs from Telangana also met in Panchayat Raj Minister K Jana Reddy’s chamber. They also wanted to complete the debate without a break during the weekend.
The Telugu Desam Telangana Forum wrote a letter to the Speaker requesting him to continue with the Assembly session, complete the debate by the end of December and return the draft bill to the Centre at the earliest.

Meanwhile, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) legislators from Seemandhra decided to meet President Pranab Mukherjee during his winter sojourn here and bring shortcomings of the draft bill to his notice.

Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, who has been keeping a low profile, charged the Centre with deviating from the established procedure of bifurcation in case of Telangana. “The bill does not reflect upon the procedure followed in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and also Uttarakhand,” he said.