Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy wants a resolution for state bifurcation moved in both the Assembly and the Council before taking up a debate on the T-bill as done in case three new States--Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand. Kiran Reddy shared his views on the issue with reporters here on Thursday. The following are the excerpts:
Q: Can we expect a debate on the AP Reorganisation Bill-2013 in the Assembly at least when the House reassembles after Christmas recess on Jan 3?
A: First of all, members should get clarity on the procedure to be followed while taking up the debate. Only then can we debate it. As we have no precedent of discussing such a Bill, several members have asked the Speaker and Council Chairman to guide them in this regard. However, neither the Speaker nor the Chairman have given any clarity.
Q: So, you are putting the onus of guiding the members on the Speaker and the Chairman?
A: Yes, the Chair has to guide the members while taking up debate on the T-Bill. There should be clarity on the way the debate should be conducted.
Q: What are your suggestions for this as the Leader of the House?
A: We should adopt the same procedure followed by Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh while carving out Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand states, which are the latest instances of state bifurcation.
Q: Could you please elaborate on this?
A: These three states were formed only after the Assemblies of their mother states had passed resolutions for division. Hence, we too should follow the same example. That means, an appropriate resolution be moved in both the Houses before debating the T-Bill.
Q: Have you gone through the proceedings followed in these states?
A: Now, I am going through the procedure adopted by Bihar and UP in this regard. As the proceedings of the UP Assembly and Bihar Council were in Hindi, I got them translated into Telugu. I have sent the copies of the same to Speaker N Manohar and Chairman A Chakrapani to guide the members while debating the T-Bill. I am also trying to get the proceedings of the MP Assembly when it debated the MP Reorganisation Bill.
Q: But, in case of these three states, the then BJP-led NDA had insisted on passing a resolution by the Assembly concerned for division of that State as per the BJP’s policy. Will it apply here?
A: Any government could only follow Constitutional conventions, whether it is NDA or some other. There are no different rules for different governments.
Q: What are the other things you found from the procedures followed in these three states?
A: While taking up the debate on the reorganisation bills in UP Assembly and Bihar Council, legislative affairs ministers of those states first asked the respective Houses to make appropriate amendments to the Bill. Only after making amendments, the respective Houses debated those Bills.
Q: Do you mean unless suitable amendments are made to the T-Bill, the debate cannot be taken forward?
A: Exactly. For moving any Bill in the House, amendments should be considered first. Then only the Bill can be discussed. The T-Bill should also be subjected to the same procedure. We can’t overlook conventions and procedures.
Q: While tabling the T-Bill, the Speaker said as the Bill was directly remitted to the House by the President, the AP Assembly Business Rules are not applicable to it. What do you say?
A: That is why, I am asking the Speaker to go through the recent precedents in other states on the same. Hence, I have sent copies of the procedures followed in Bihar and UP to the Speaker in order to make him informed. We want to debate the Bill only as per Constitutional norms. Some of the members sought the aims and objectives of the T-Bill along with background information before taking a debate. Hence, the state government has decided to forward their letters to the Centre seeking full information on the same.
Q: It seems you are trying to drag on the process of debating the Bill to consume maximum time. Correct?
A: So far, I have no such intention. But now, you people have given me a good idea (laughing).
Q: Do you defend the need to debate the T-Bill elaborately in the House?
A: People should know what their representatives will say on the issue of bifurcation. MLAs can reflect the views of their people only by debating the Bill.