Telangana Bill clears Lok Sabha with BJP aid amid TV blackout
p Gaur/Mint
New Delhi/Hyderabad: Ignoring dissent from within
and outside the ruling Congress party and reinforced by support from the
opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Lok Sabha on Tuesday
controversially passed the historic Bill to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh
amid chaotic scenes and an unprecedented blackout of proceedings on
television.
Adding to the chaos was the decision of some of the political
parties to boycott the voice vote for the creation of a separate state
of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh.
With this, India has moved a step closer to creating the
country’s 29th state. It was a process that was set in motion on the
night of 9 December 2009 by then home minister P. Chidambaram. The Bill is expected to be passed by the Rajya Sabha later this week.
At the time of the first reorganization of states in 1956, India had 14 states and 6 Union territories.
The passage of the Bill— which still needs to be passed
by the Rajya Sabha and signed by the President to become law —came after
90 minutes of chaos through which the clause-by-clause amendments were
piloted by home minister Sushilkumar Shinde.
Both houses of Parliament have witnessed unprecedented
disruptions of business, initially with MPs belonging to Telangana
pressing for the new state, and later with those opposed to the
bifurcation staging angry protests. Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar
was forced to suspend several MPs for the acrimony in the last three
sessions. The Congress also faced a major embarrassment as its members,
including ministers, crowded the centre of the House protesting the
government’s decision.
Hyderabad, the present capital of Andhra Pradesh, will be
the joint capital of Telangana and so-called Seemandhra, a term coined
for the coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions combined, for a period of
10 years. Seemandhra has, in recent months, been rocked by protests
over the proposed bifurcation.
As c
elebrations
broke out in Hyderabad with pro-Telangana supporters bursting
fireworks, distributing sweets and breaking into impromptu dances, YSR
Congress chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy,
who was suspended last week for disruptions in the Lok Sabha, called
for a shutdown strike on Wednesday. He said the passage marked a “black
day” for the country.
L. Rajagopal,
an MP expelled from the Congress, who used pepper spray inside
Parliament, said he was quitting politics. “Till now we struggled to
keep the state united. Now all of us have to struggle hard to keep
Telugu people united,” Rajagopal said on the phone. “A lot of hatred has
been spread. We now have to fill in all the holes and keep all the
emotions behind. We have to erase hatred among the people.”
Although Parliament’s clearance will complete the
technical process for the formation of Telangana state, for which a
movement, “Jai Telangana” was launched in 1969, the entire process,
including the division of assets, resources and infrastructure, and
selecting and developing a new capital for Seemandhra will take at least
a decade to be completed.
State chief minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy,
who belongs to Congress but publicly protested against the bifurcation,
is likely to quit the post and start a new party, said a Lok Sabha
member close to the chief minister who didn’t want to be named. The
chief minister has called a press conference at 10.45am on Wednesday,
where he is expected to announce his decision. He had earlier said that
he would resign if the state is divided.
Union minister D. Purandareswari, who hails from Seemandhra, is also likely to resign from the council of ministers.
The live telecast of the proceedings on Lok Sabha
television was interrupted by what the state-run broadcaster described
as a technical glitch.
Political observers have pointed out that the Congress,
which promised formation of Telangana state in its common minimum
program when it formed the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition
in 2004, may have lost the political advantage due to the inordinate
delay in following through on the proposal.
The BJP’s Sushma Swaraj,
leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, spoke in support of the
Bill. “You stretched it so far and are taking it up when there are just
three days left to end the last session of 15th Lok Sabha...,” she said.
“It’s a strange situation that the ruling party’s own MPs are
protesting when the party president stands for it. Cabinet has cleared
it, but the Prime Minister’s cabinet colleagues are protesting inside
the House.”
Swaraj said that the government had assured the opposition that concerns expressed by Seemandhra leaders will be addressed.
“Our party is forming the next government. We will ensure that people of Seemandhra get justice,” she said.
The Congress-led UPA’s popularity has been on a downhill
path due to the corruption allegations against its leaders and its
failure to contain inflation; poll surveys have predicted a clear edge
for the Narendra Modi-led BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.
A Union minister, who belongs to Telangana, said the
Congress leadership had completely “messed up” the process and let the
situation go from bad to worse.
“Had the leadership handled it with political acumen and
maturity, so much bad blood would not have been there. The mishandling
has destroyed party’s electoral process at least for 10 years in coastal
Andhra and Rayalaseema region,” said the minister on condition of
anonymity.
Industry lobby groups were cautious in their response to
the development. “We feel that today’s decision certainly brings clarity
on this long- pending issue,” said B. Ashok Reddy
chairman of the Andhra Pradesh chapter of the Confederation of Indian
Industry, adding that a number of questions relating to the division
were yet to be answered.
“Distribution of resources like water, power, etc.,
amongst Telangana and Seemandhra, state government policies, tax
benefits are some of the things which are yet to be decided...
Additionally, when the new state is formed, the distribution of
different industries should be based on the availability of resources
and talent. Creating quick social infrastructure should also be
considered for an all-inclusive growth,” Reddy said.
Srinivas Ayyadevara, president, Federation of Andhra
Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, an industry body made up of
nearly 3,000 small and medium enterprises, said: “Now, that the
political impasse is over and Telangana formation Bill got the
clearance, the industrial climate will improve and become stable.”
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