Dy chief minister demands Reddy's resignation

Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha on Monday demanded immediate resignation of Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy for trying to move a resolution in the Assembly to stall formation of the Telangana state.

The deputy chief minister, who belongs to Telangana, said he would meet Governor E S L Narasimhan in this regard.

Rajanarasimha told reporters that the chief minister had lost the confidence of ministers from Telangana. “We no longer treat him as leader of the House,” he said.

He alleged that by submitting a notice to the Speaker for moving a resolution to reject the Telangana bill, the chief minister had insulted his cabinet colleagues from Telangana.

Former APCC chief D Srinivas met the governor at Raj Bhavan and complained against the chief minister for trying to move the resolution.

Assembly proceedings were disrupted on Monday with Congress ministers from Telangana rushing to the podium of the House in protest against the resolution. The House on Monday did not function even for 10 minutes. It was adjourned twice before being called off for the day.

Lawmakers from Telangana, cutting across party lines, announced at the media point that they would not allow further debate on the bill until Reddy withdrew the notice.
The development came over 45 days after the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2013, reached the Assembly on December 15.

There was a protracted debate by 80-odd MLAS on the issue including a seven-hour speech by the chief minister. With only three days left for sending the bill back to the President and Parliament, the bottleneck has put a question mark over the legislation’s fate and the future of a separate Telangana state.

Speaker N Manohar is expected to take a call on the resolution, moved two days earlier by Reddy.

If the Speaker allows Reddy to move the resolution, it could get the Assembly’s absolute nod as the number of Seemandhra MLAs (175) opposed to the bifurcation far exceeds Telangana MLAs (119).

The Andhra Pradesh Assembly has time till Thursday to return the bill to President Pranab Mukherjee.