Congress may not act against Kiran for now
New Delhi The Congress appears to have developed cold feet on the issue of Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy. The party clearly ruled out any tough action on Reddy despite his move to recommend rejection of the Telengana Bill in the Assembly.
Reddy who has gone to the extent of terming the Bill unconstitutional and questioning its authenticity has been given a long rope by the party. Newly appointed AICC spokesman Mukul Wasnik made it clear that the party high command was not considering any action against Reddy despite a large section of the party being very upset with the CM's latest move.
While answering questions on Reddy's latest move, Wasnik said 'the Congress has not issued any whip for the ongoing discussion in the Assembly.
When prodded further Wasnik pointed out that the assembly has only being asked to express its views and that everybody is free to express his or her view. He added that at least 85 members had already given their opinion and even 8000 amendments had been suggested by them.
It is widely believed that with the Chief Minister ready to float his own party and the situation being extremely fluid for the party, the Congress does not want to precipitate matters by initiating any action at this stage.
However, highly placed sources explained that a large section of the party, including AP In-charge Digvijay Singh, are quite upset with the CM's latest move.
Jairam Ramesh was on record to point out that the centre 'has over riding powers on the creation of Telangana and we are exercising it'. Ramesh was replying to questions about the CM's recommendation to reject the Bill. Jairam also differed openly on Reddy's contention that this was a draft and the 'real' Bill.
He explained how the Bill had gone through the entire procedure of the law from the GoM to the Law Ministry to the union cabinet and then to the President left no doubt about its legality. Jairam termed the CM's stance as nothing but 'quibbling over language'.
News Posted: 28 January, 2014
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