The Opposition TDP is in a majority in the council.
HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is all set to ensure passage of a resolution in the Assembly on Monday recommending the abolition of the legislative council in which the Opposition TDP is in majority. Assembly Speaker Tammineni Sitaram has agreed to call for a special session of the House on Monday for the purpose.
Andhra Pradesh is one of the six states in India to have this legislative council. The other states are Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Telangana. The combined Andhra Pradesh first abolished the legislative council in 1985 when NTR was the Chief Minister, but restored it again in 2005 when Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy came to power a year before.
Article 169 of the Constitution allows abolition of the legislative council of any state, provided the particular state Assembly passes a resolution recommending the move. After that, the ball moves into the court of the Centre. The Parliament will have to pass a resolution abolishing the council and then the President will have to give his assent to it. Only after the Presidential notification, the council stands abolished.
Chief Minister Jagan, as well as his ministers and MLAs, are angry with the council turning down a Bill (Andhra Pradesh Decentralisation and Inclusive Growth of All Regions Bill 2020) and referring it to a select-committee on Wednesday. The Bill was passed by the Assembly a day before, but the ruling party couldn’t secure passage in the council.
Of the 55 members of the AP legislative council, the Opposition TDP has 282 members, while the ruling YSR Congress has just nine members. The rest are BJP (two), the Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) five, Independents three and nominated three. These nominated three are supporters of the TDP, while there are three vacancies.
Former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s son and former TDP minister Nara Lokesh, too, is a member of the council. The Jagan government is of the view that as there is little chance of securing majority in this council in the next few years, and that there is every chance of the Upper House rejecting the bills of the Assembly, its abolition was the only way to get rid of legislative obstacles in the coming days.
The way council chairman Ahmed Sharif (who belonged to TDP) used his discretion under Rule 154 of the council to send the three Bills to a select committee on Thursday, too, is a reason for Chief Minister Jagan deciding to abolish the legislative council. Sharif is likely to continue for some more years as TDP has enough numbers in the House.
The government appeared over-confident on the passage of the Bill in the council. Even if the council rejected it, the same piece of legislation can get cleared by the Assembly for a second resolution. However, the TDP, which has more experienced members like former AP Assembly Speaker Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, among others, insisted on sending it to the select-committee.
Usually, the legislative select-committees are dominated by members from the party which has numerical upper hand in the council (or Assembly). So, in this instance, TDP will have more members plus chairmanship of the select committee and its report would definitely be against the government’s proposal to shift the capital from Amaravati.
CM Jagan and his ministers are also apprehensive that they cannot function from Amaravati even for a few more days as the entire areas is in tension in view of the ongoing agitation by the farmers who had given their lands for the capital city project. The police had clamped prohibitory orders in the Amaravati limits for the last one month.
Even as the ruling party is getting ready to pass a resolution recommending abolition of the legislative council, the TDP leaders led a delegation to Governor Biswabhushan Harichandan at Vijayawada Raj Bhavan on Friday evening. They apprised him of the happenings in the council two days ago and complained that the ruling party members had even tried to attack the chairman in his chambers.
Speaking to media later, TDP president and former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu said that the Jagan government cannot abolish the council at its will. “The entire process will take at least one-and-a-half years and we will explore every option to stall the process, including moving the courts and meeting the President of India. We will definitely restore the council if we come to power,” Naidu said.
Andhra Pradesh Agriculture Minister Kannababu rebuffed Naidu’s claim and maintained that the government had to contemplate abolition of the council just because it has become an “obstacle” to the functioning of the elected government. “We got the mandate to rule the state and people expect us to work for them, and the TDP cannot frustrate the mandate through backdoor methods,” the minister said.