A defiant Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Wednesday declared he would quit politics if the Center introduced the State Reorganisation Bill 2013 in Parliament in its present form. “If it is presented in Parliament in the same form in which it was sent to the State legislature, I will quit politics,” the Chief Minister told the media.
However, unfazed by his threat, the Centre on Wednesday decided to convene a meeting of the GoM on Telangana on February 4 to consider taking up the Bill on bifurcation of the State. Senior officials of the Union Home Ministry indicated that the Centre would table the Bill in Parliament in the forthcoming session. “It is a political call. The Centre can ignore the outcome of the Assembly and place the Bill in Parliament,” they said.
“The Telangana Bill, along with the MHA cabinet note, is likely to be put up before the Cabinet on February 7. The Government is expected to go ahead with tabling the Bill in Parliament irrespective of the AP Assembly’s decision,” added officials.
Kiran Kumar Reddy, who is on a collision course with the Congress central leadership over the move to divide the State, asserted that the Bill was so incomprehensive and full of flaws that it will not be admitted in Parliament.
“I am against the bifurcation of the State,” he declared. On the argument of Telangana supporters that the State legislature did not have power to vote on the Bill, he asked why the Center sent the Bill to the State in the first place. “They could have gone ahead and divided the State on their own,” he said. “When members have moved 9,024 amendments to the Bill, how can the House express its opinion without voting,” asked the Chief Minister demanding a vote in the House.
He said he had sought an extension of three weeks for the debate to fully expose the flaws in the Bill. “When only 86 of the 280 members in the Assembly have expressed their views, how it can be seen as the view of the entire State,” he wondered. The Chief Minister, who has been publicly differing with the Congress high command and the Central Government over the division of Andhra Pradesh, said that the situation of Andhra Pradesh was completely different from the other States which were divided in the past.
lashing out at the Centre, Kiran Kumar Reddy alleged that the Central Government had deceived the President by sending an in-comprehensive Bill to him. “The President doesn’t scrutinise the bill. It is the Ministry of Home Affairs and the law Ministry that scrutinise the Bill,” he said.