The Assembly on Monday adopted a statutory resolution for the abolition of the Legislative Council with 133 members, including the lone Jana Sena MLA, voting for it and none opposing it. The Opposition Telugu Desam Party had on Sunday made it clear that it would boycott the proceedings.
Speaker Thammineni Seetharam declared that the government had moved the resolution as per Article 169 (1) of the Constitution and 133 members out of those ‘present and voting’ gave their consent for the abolition of the Council. After initially putting the number at 121, it was enhanced to 133 after a proper counting.
Before taking up the division behind closed doors as per procedures, Mr. Seetharam asked Ministers Pilli Subhash Chandra Bose and Mopidevi Venkata Ramana to be seated separately as they were no longer members of the Council. Both left the House at the time of counting the members.
Earlier, replying to the discussion on the resolution which he had moved in the morning, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said the Council had lost its ‘public utility’ and spending even a single rupee on it from the treasury would be waste of public money.
The CM observed that the Assembly was under no obligation to accommodate the amendments to Bills proposed by the Council and that he said that the ruling party could wait to secure a majority in the Council once the term of the present one expired but he made up his mind to get it scrapped in public interest.
He asserted that democracy would be in jeopardy if Legislative Councils acted as per the whims and fancies of their members, adding that only six States — A.P., Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh — have Councils.
“When the Assembly has three Ph.D-holders, 38 post-graduates, 13 medical doctors, 14 engineers, 68 graduates, three former IAS officers, one Group-I officer, a professor and a few teachers and farmers, there is absolutely no need to continue the Council which is supposed to have intellectuals but has members who have no people’s support,” he observed.
‘Political objectives’
Mr. Jagan said the political objectives of the Council were evident from its reference of the Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions and CRDA Repeal Bills to a select committee in blatant violation of norms.
Besides, the Council returned the Bills meant for forming separate Commissions for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and introducing English medium in government schools.
Saying that former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had influenced the Council Chairman during the debate on the decentralisation and CRDA repeal Bills, Mr. Jagan said the good things which he wanted to do were being projected as acts of injustice.
