Amaravati: Buggana suspects conspiracy in referring Bills to select committee

Amaravati: Minister for Legislative Affairs Buggana Rajendranath Reddy here on Thursday criticised the decision of the Legislative Council Chairman in referring the two Bills to the select committee. He suspected that the Bill were sent to the select committee due to conspiracy of TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu.

Rajendranath Reddy was reacting to the procedural lapses during the discussion in the Assembly on Thursday. The Bills, AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Bill, 2020, and the AP Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) (Repeal) Bill, were referred to select committee by Council Chairman on Wednesday. He said the Council Chairman had not been given discretionary powers under Rule 154 to refer the bills to the select committee. Moreover, a proper procedure was not followed to refer the bills to the select committee.

According to rules, government business should be prioritised, he said. But the opposition party leaders had raised Rule 71 which is a special provision to discuss government policy and for the Legislative Council to give its opinion on it. This rule was not in any State's constitutional procedure but under some special circumstances a few years ago, Rule 71 was included in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council.

The Minister said instead of prioritising the government business the opposition party was adamant on Rule 71, and it had been permitted to take up Rule 71. During the discussion, the two government Bills had been taken into consideration, but all of a sudden, the opposition had mentioned that they had sent a letter to the Chairman to refer the bills to the select committee.

He said the Leader of Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu was present in the Council gallery during the discussion and was sitting quite opposite the Council Chairman when he was referring the Bills to the select committee, the Chairman had seen Naidu and referred the two Bills to the select committee. It was very clear that the Chairman was influenced by Naidu, he added. If this was the case, what was the point in having the people's elected body, the Legislative Assembly, he asked.

The Minister said the issue should be elaborately discussed. About Rs 60 crore is being spent on the Council just to take suggestions but not to block the government's work. If it was to block the government's work, there is no point in Assembly sessions. He termed the TDP actions as atrocious and unjustifiable. A decision should be taken after comprehensive consideration and ensure that there is no such situation to block the government in future, he added.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Kurasala Kannababu said the Opposition leaders' behaviour was not appropriate. "Leader of the Opposition in the Council Yanamala Ramakrishnudu had said that all Ministers had come drunk to the Assembly and another person, during a discussion on a TV channel said that breathalysers should be used to test the members when they were entering the Assembly," he said, and added that attempts to slander the Ministers or legislators.

Deputy Chief Minister Amjad Bashaw said referring the two bills to the selection committee was never raised during the discussion in the Legislative Council.

He said the BJP and PDF MLCs had also said that they would abide by the rules. But Naidu had influenced the Council Chairman which was not appropriate.

The opposition party had intentionally consumed the time to ensure that these two bills are stalled. The TDP was confined to only three villages and neglecting the other regions in the state, he added.