TDP govt to abolish Council?

Vijayawada: Will the TDP take a decision to abolish the Legislative Council? This is the speculation that is going rounds in political circles.

This issue came to fore following the comments made by YSRCP chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy during a meeting he had with his party leaders and MLCs on Thursday.

Jagan reportedly said: “Though we don’t have enough strength in the Assembly, and we will not be allowed to become people’s voice there. But we have sizable strength in the Council and can try and stonewall various bills passed by the Assembly.”

It may be recalled that in the 2019 elections when the YSRCP swept winning 151 seats and restricted the TDP to 23 seats in the Assembly, the YSRCP said that it was the “script written by god and a slap against the TDP’s Amaravati-centric model of development.” At that time, the YSRCP had mere nine members in the Council out of a total strength of 58 members. Jagan Mohan Reddy who was in a hurry to undo many things and pass bills like denotifying the Amaravati Capital Region Development Authority, wanted to abolish the Council to prevent the Opposition from stalling the bills.

He felt not having majority in the Council was a major handicap for his party. The AP Assembly passed a bill to abolish the Council on the grounds that it was a waste of expenditure and quoted the precedent when the TDP led by N T Rama Rao had abolished the Council in 1983. However, TDP circles say that they have not given any thought to abolish the Council. If need be, they would first discuss with the NDA partners and within the party before taking a decision. They said as of now it was not their priority.

They also said the YSRCP is daydreaming of stalling the bills knowing well that if the Council rejects the bill or passes it with amendments or takes no action for three months, the bill goes to the Legislative Assembly again where it can be passed. There is also no provision to refer any bill to select committee as in case of Rajya Sabha.

They said at the most the Council can delay passing a bill, but it cannot stop it. Hence even if it were to be abolished it really would not matter much. In fact, the Legislative Councils have become political rehabilitation centres.