Andhra Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha Friday demanded a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) saying people of Telangana had lost their faith in Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy.
Reacting strongly to the delay in tabling the Telangana bill in the assembly despite the central government sending it Thursday, the deputy chief minister said people of Telangana had no confidence in the chief minister.
Rajanarasimha, who hails from Telangana, alleged that Kiran Reddy deliberately delayed sending the bill to the assembly.
He told reporters that the chief minister waited till the assembly was adjourned for the day so that the house could not take up the bill.
Describing Kiran Reddy as “anti-Telangana”, Rajanarasimha said he was making all attempts to stall the formation of a separate state.
Earlier, the deputy chief minister spoke to Chief Secretary P.K. Mohanty and enquired about the delay in sending the bill to the assembly.
A senior official of the union home ministry had brought the draft Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill 2013 to Hyderabad in a special aircraft Thursday evening.
The bill was handed over to the chief secretary at the state secretariat. The chief secretary Thursday night also called on the chief minister.
President Pranab Mukherjee sent the bill to the assembly with a direction to send it back with its comments by Jan 23.
Both houses of the state legislature were Friday disrupted due to protests over the bill.
The lawmakers from Telangana demanded that the bill be taken up immediately for debate. Both houses were adjourned till Monday.
Meanwhile, the chief minister is believed to have told ministers and legislators from Seemandhra that there would be voting on every clause of the bill.
This is in contrast to the statement of Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Congress leaders that the president had only asked the assembly for its views.
–IANS