HYDERABAD: Much to the happiness of politicos in Andhra Pradesh, Parliament on Friday gave its nod to the Bill proposing amendments to the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014, to increase the number of members of the State Legislative Council to 58 from the existing 50.
After an argument between the members of the Congress and the TDP, that too in Telugu, the AP Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha by a voice vote. The Bill was already passed in the Lok Sabha.
According to the amendment, after the division, AP was left with 175 members in the Assembly and only 50 in the Council. As per the Constitution, the total number of members in the Council would not exceed one-third of the total number of Assembly members and should not be less than 40. Since one-third of 175 MLAs comes to 58, the amendment proposes to raise the strength of the members to 58 from the existing 50 in the Council. Earlier, minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju moved the motion for the passage of the Bill.
Prior to the passage of the Bill, Rajya Sabha witnessed a heated debate over the way the erstwhile AP was bifurcated, for a while, between the members of the Congress and the TDP.