A Private Member Bill moved by a Congress member in the Rajya Sabha to seek special category status in the reorganised State of Andhra Pradesh could not be taken up due to noisy scenes created by both the ruling and Opposition benches on Friday.
While the political parties issued a whip to respective members to be present on the occasion, attempts of Congress member KVP Ramachandra Rao’s Private Member Bill was foiled strategically by ruling BJP members who stormed into the Well of Upper House demanding arrest of lok Sabha member Bhagwant Mann on charges of security breach of Parliament.
Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien had a tough time in dealing with both the sides and he said that the House should be allowed to function since the schedule was Private Member Bill. While the Congress members alleged that their BJP counterparts were shouting to foil Congress’ attempts to seek special category for Andhra through a Bill moved by a private member since the Centre has failed to grant so, the ruling party ignored this and rather pressed for action against Mann.
The Congress issued a three-line whip to all its 60 members in the 243-member Upper House to vote for the bill. Congress leaders had thought the bill would be passed as the party was able to gather support from more than 100 members. Interestingly, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) also extended its support to the proposed legislation.