Amid din over Mann video, Andhra private member Bill misses RS date

Azad had issued a three-line whip to Congress members to be present in the House when the Bill — moved by its MP K V P Ramachandra Rao — is taken up for consideration and passage. Congress floor managers had managed to enlist the support of most of the Opposition parties and the Bill would have sailed through had it been put to vote.

Even NDA constituent TDP was in favour.

Friday afternoons are reserved for private member business. But MPs, especially those from the BJP, trooped into the Well the moment proceedings began today. Raising slogans demanding Mann’s arrest, they parked themselves in the Well amid arguments and counter-arguments by Treasury and Opposition benches and appeals for calm by Deputy Chairman P J Kurien. Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur was on her feet all through. The House had to be adjourned 14 minutes later without taking up the Bill.

The AP Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, moved by Rao, seeks to amend the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014, which paved the way for bifurcation of the state.

The Bill seeks to amend Section 100 of the original Act to insert provisions for setting up an Andhra Pradesh-Telangana Council on the lines of the North-Eastern Council, grant of special status for Andhra Pradesh for 10 years and sanction of a special package to turn around the state’s financial health.

Stating that BJP used the Mann issue to prevent voting on the Bill, Azad said: “They were demanding his expulsion and his arrest. Now, Mann is not a member of Rajya Sabha…And who has the power to arrest him?…the Government. The government at the Centre is run by the BJP, and in Punjab BJP is part of government. If he has to be arrested, it is to be done by the BJP…if he has to be expelled, then again the BJP has absolute majority in Lok Sabha, the Speaker is also theirs…”

CPM’s Sitaram Yechury said BJP was denying Andhra Pradesh its right to the package promised in Parliament. “They don’t want the Bill to be passed. This is a political issue. They are depriving the state…standing against interests of the people,” he said.