Telangana MLAs may pip Kiran on bill at business panel

Yet another showdown is expected at the state assembly’s business advisory committee (BAC) meeting on Monday. Confident that the numbers are in their favour, the Telangana protagonists are gearing up to push through their agenda for ensuring that the draft Telangana Bill is tabled and debated in the House as early as possible. But despite being outnumbered in the BAC, the Seemandhra lobby, including House leader and chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, are all set to thwart the Telangana legislators game plan at every step.

The BAC consists of 11 members of whom the ruling Congress has seven — chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, deputy CM Damodar Raja Narasimha, legislative affairs minister D Sridhar Babu, finance minister Anam Ramnarayan Reddy, revenue minister N Raghuveera Reddy, chief whip Gandra Venkata Ramana Reddy and deputy speaker Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka.

Out of the seven government representatives, four are from Telangana region and all of them are keen on the bill to be tabled and debated in the current winter session. The Telugu Desam Party is represented by N Chandrababu Naidu and P Ashok Gajapati Raju, both from the Seemandhra region. While Naidu is expected to be neutral at the BAC meeting, Ashok Gajapati Raju is firm on delaying the separate state bill as much as possible.

Completing the BAC would be floor leaders of TRS and YSR Congress while floor leaders of the CPI, BJP, MIM and Loksatta are special invitees. Since the numbers overwhelmingly favour the Telangana region, the members from the region are expecting to get the bill introduced in the assembly before next Thursday, the last day of the winter session as per the existing schedule.

Assembly sources said speaker Nadendla Manohar will go with the majority view and fix the agenda accordingly. “At this point, the Telangana MLAs first priority is getting the bill introduced in the House. How long the debate will go on is another matter,” said one member, implying that yet another sitting of the BAC might happen in case the bill gets introduced in the assembly first. “Since we have the majority in the BAC, we will strive to get the Telangana Bill introduced in this session itself,” IT minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah told STOI.

But as leader of the house, Kiran Kumar Reddy will have a major say. While acceding to the view point of the majority, the speaker at the same time cannot ignore what the CM says. “Therefore, things are not going to be that easy for the Telangana leaders at the BAC on Monday. It is sure to see a major showdown,” said sources.

Source: ToI