BackTelangana Bill clears Lok Sabha with BJP aid amid TV blackout
The Bill is likely to be passed by the Rajya Sabha later this week
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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.
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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.
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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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