The Andhra Pradesh assembly today emphatically rejected the draft Bill to create separate Telangana state, embarrassing the Centre and posing a moral dilemma for President Pranab Mukherjee, who has to forward the bill for passing in Parliament.
A majority of MLAs backed Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy’s resolution to reject the bill that creates the new state.
Though the assembly’s vote does not matter, the rejection poses an ethical question for the Centre and the President.
Speaker N. Manohar adjourned the house for an hour within couple of minutes after it met for the day as the legislators from both Telangana and Seemandhra surrounded his podium raising slogans in support of their demands.
While the legislators from Telangana wanted the speaker to reject the notice given by Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy for moving a resolution to reject the bill, their counterparts from Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra (Seemandhra) demanded that voting be conducted immediately on the bill.
The protest by legislators from Telangana cutting across party lines for last four days has brought the debate on Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill 2013 to a halt.