AP legislative secretary defies his Council chief

Hyderabad: In an unusual confrontation with his own boss, Andhra Pradesh legislative secretary P. Balakrishnama Charyulu defied the orders of Legislative Council chairman M.A. Sharif for constituting a legislative select committee on the contentious Bill that paves way for shifting the executive capital from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam.
As there is a vast grey area in the rule books of the legislature as well as the Constitution in case there is a fight between the council chairman and the legislative secretary, this present controversy too is expected to reach the courts unless either of the sides show restraint and back off. There is also a political colour to the conflict as the ruling YSR Congress is behind the secretary, the chairman is from opposition TDP.
The situation appears heading towards a crisis as the TDP members in the council have warned the government which is backing the secretary against refusing to implement the orders of the chairman and threatened to take the matter to the notice of the union home ministry and President of India and even move the courts as a final resort. The trouble started when Council chairman Sharif referred the Andhra Pradesh Decentralization and Inclusive Growth Bill 2020 to a select committee for further study much against to the wishes of the ruling party, YSR Congress. Of the 55 member strong Council, TDP commands majority with 28 members while YSR Congress has just nine members.
The Bill has already been passed by the Assembly a day before and Legislative Affairs Minister Buggana Rajendranath R eddy who piloted the legislation in the council insisted that the members of Upper House had no right to either reject or refer it to the select committee. Reddy asked the Council members to send back the Bill to the assembly with amendments, if there are any. That move would have allowed the government to pass the Bill for a second time in the Assembly so that it becomes compulsory for the Council to ratify it as per the constitutional provisions. However, TDP members who wanted to delay its passage have demanded that the Bill be referred to a select committee, consisting of members from all parties in the House. Obviously, TDP would dominate such panel. On the day when the Council took up the Bill on 22 January, there was near pandemonium as more than a dozen ministers were present in the House and TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu was sitting the gallery, facing the chairman’s seat. After several hours of debate, chairman Sharif had announced that he was referring the Bill to a select committee, based on discretionary powers vested in him. Within three days after the developments, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy called for a special session of the Assembly and moved a Bill altogether abolishing the Legislative Council. Jagan attacked the council for obstructing the Bills passed by the assembly and TDP president Naidu influencing Council chairman by sitting in the gallery. Even as the abolition of council Bill is now before the Centre, chairman Sharif called for names from different parties to constitute the select committee and asked Minister Rajendranath Reddy to head it as per the convention. The minister refused to head it and YSR Congress declined to join the panel on the ground that the fate of the council hanged in balance. Still Sharif appointed a select committee with the TDP and other parties’ members.