Kiran's camp plays prorogue game - TeluguPeople.com News

HYDERABAD: The countdown for referring the Telangana Bill to the State Assembly seems to have well and truly begun with the Centre reportedly asking the State government and the Assembly Secretariat to make preparations for a special Assembly session.

The Assembly Secretariat has got down to business and even police officials concerned have been reportedly directed to make security arrangements for the special session.

However, with Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy showing no signs of giving up, Congress State affairs incharge Digvijaya Singh, it is learnt, got in touch with ministers and senior party leaders belonging to both Telangana and Seemandhra.

'Singh is personally monitoring preparations for the special session to ensure that it goes off smoothly,' said a top Congress leader. Faced with the inevitable, Kiran Reddy is said to be trying to shift the blame to Speaker N Manohar for not proroguing the Assembly after its last session ended on June 21 in his bid to be seen as a Samaikyandhra champion.

The Chief Minister's camp had on Tuesday leaked to a section of media that the Speaker had not been forwarding a letter to Raj Bhavan, sent 10 days ago requesting him to recommend to Governor ESL Narasimhan to prorogue the Assembly. Congress leaders close to Manohar termed this move an attempt to project the Chief Minister as head and shoulders above every other Seemandhra leader.

They alleged the CM's camp had first tried to malign PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana and then, Finance Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy and Minister Kanna Lakshminarayana, who was seen as his potential successor.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that Kiran met APNGOs' leaders to refuel Samaikya stir during the Assembly session when he wants to resign.

Speaker upset with leaks

Speaker N Manohar is reportedly upset after the CM's camp leaked to the media that he has been sitting on a letter sent to him by the government requesting that he recommend to the Governor to prorogue the Assembly. According to sources, Manohar sees the leak as an attempt to shift the blame to others as is being done by Kiran's camp ever since the CWC decided to bifurcate the State.

Kiran has a plan

Why does the CM's camp want to prorogue the Assembly all of a sudden? Sources say Kiran, who is trying to use every trick in the book to stall T process, is of the view that if he could delay the Assembly session, he could upset the Centre's apple cart on the T-front and make passage of T bill in Parliament difficult.

'If the House is prorogued, the Governor has to issue a fresh notification to convene the Assembly only on the recommendation of the Cabinet. The plan is if the House is prorogued, Kiran can avoid Cabinet meeting under the pretext of tackling cyclone,' sources said.

Centre too has one

CM's detractors believe even if the Speaker forwards the government's recommendation to the Governor, he may or may not prorogue the Assembly.

'The Speaker can also hold a special session if the President sends the T Bill to him. As the head of the country, he can ask the Speaker to convene the Assembly,' sources said, adding in any case, CM has to convene the Assembly by Dec 21.

The Centre has also drafted a plan in case it fails to pass the bill in winter session of Parliament. Instead of adjourning the House, it may have recess and reconvene the session in January.

Fact of the matter

■ The last session of the Assembly concluded on June 21. In normal course, as soon as the House is adjourned sine die, the government requests the Speaker to recommend to the Governor to prorogue the House. But the Kiran government sent the request to the Speaker just a fortnight back.

■ The government's letter to Speaker went after the Centre expedited the process of drafting the T Bill, that too after the recent meeting of the PCC coordination panel in Delhi.

■ Soon after sending the letter to the Speaker, the CM is learnt to have asked him to forward the same to the Governor. However, Manohar could not do the same as he had been out of station for the past 10 days.

■ Oil Minister Veerappa Moily says GoM will finalise its report by month-end and T bill will be passed in winter session.