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It was a script of 3 Ministers
It was a script of 3 Ministers, Kamal Nath, Chidambaram, Jairam Ramesh. The mandate given to these MPs were to provide protection to the leaders from 12.01 pm to 12.02 pm by when the process would be completed.
New Delhi: It all happened as the per the script drafted by Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, who managed to outwit the Seemandhra MPs in introducing the Telangana Bill on Thursday. Aware that the Seemandhra MPs, cutting across party lines, would not allow them to introduce the Telangana Bill, the UPA government had worked out its strategy, the previous night.
Sources stated that the Ministers had zeroed-in on three positions which needed to be guarded from the Seemandhra MPs. These were the Speaker's podium, the front row of the treasury benches where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi sit besides Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde who has to introduce the Bill. Hefty MPs like Sanjay Nirupam, Raj Babbar, Lal Singh and Azharrudin were asked to create a ring around Shinde. Similarly, other MPs were identified to shield Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who anyway, were not in the House except Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi. For obvious reasons, both Prime Minister and Congress President were cautioned not to come to the House.
The mandate given to these MPs were to provide protection to the leaders from 12.01 pm to 12.02 pm by when the process would be completed. The Telangana Bill, which was not listed even in the Revised List of Business was brought in the Supplementary List of Business marked as 20-A.
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath met Speaker Meira Kumar and requested her to use her discretionary powers in rearranging the Order of Business in the House. The Telangana Bill listed at 20-A was brought up as the first item.
This game-plan not only took the Seemandhra MPs by surprise but even the Opposition was kept in the dark. Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj complained that by superseding 19 items, the government had jumped straight to the 20th item. Besides, the supplementary list of business was not circulated to the MPs ahead of the introduction of the Bill. While the Bill was introduced at noon, the supplementary list was circulated at 2 pm.
At the end, the government floor managers had the last laugh while the Opposition was left red-faced and fuming. The well-crafted strategy worked out by the Minister even floored the Seemandhra MPs who had come all prepared with their pepper-sprays hoping that they will bring tears in the eyes of the members of the treasury benches. Tears did roll down but more so from the eyes of the Seemandhra MPs, who have lost the first battle in their war against the creation of Telangana.
