ANDHRA BILL CRIPPLES RAJYA SABHA YET AGAIN

Deputy Chairman P J Kurien tried to end a face-off between Govt and the Congress but Jaitely’s bombshell badly impacted his efforts

The Congress MPs played truant, continuing to paralyse the postlunch session of the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday to press for an immediate voting on the private member’s Bill for special status to Andhra Pradesh that was scuttled by the ruckus of the ruling BJP MPs and several ministers last Friday. Deputy Chairman P J Kurien tried to end a face-off between the Government and the Congress by ruling that the Bill of Telangana MP Dr KVP Ramachandra Rao will be taken up for voting on Friday setting aside a resolution listed in the private member’s business that day, provided both sides agree. His ruling, however, fell flat after an adjournment when leader of House Arun Jaitley, the finance minister, said it was a “money bill” that cannot be passed by the Rajya Sabha at all as it involves the Centre giving more money to the state. Demonstrations cannot override the Constitution provision as otherwise it would be like the Rajya Sabha acquiring powers to even change the Union Budget, he said. Jaitley’s bombshell came after Congress member Jairam Ramesh had told the deputy chairman that his ruling for voting on Friday was welcome but what is the guarantee that the leader of House will that day say it is money bill and hence the Rajya Sabha is not competent to pass it. When Kurien said nothing of that sort has been said in the House and how can Jairam know what is in the finance minister’s mind, he quipped that Jaitley has been saying it in the Central Hall since all of Monday. Jaitley contention was received by the Congress members with loud protests from the well even as CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechuri was engaged in a duel with Jaitley on why he did not stop the Bill when it was brought in the House on August 7 last year. The Bill had been discussed and the government had even replied in the last session, but it could not be voted since there was no quorum. The Deputy Chairman was flabbergasted by Jaitley’s contention even as he had even indicated to let the Bill be brought up for voting even on Wednesday if the House passes a resolution and the matter is included in the day’s agenda. He had no option to adjourn the House for the day after failing to stop the din that followed.

Even before Jaitley came to the House to take a stand, junior parliamentary affairs minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi decried the Congress for deliberately raking up the issue for the second day to sabotage the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill. He asserted that Andhra is only an excuse of the Congress as its whole game is to stop development of the states and the Adivasis by not allowing the afforestation bill to distribute the money to the states that has piled up with the Centre. Even Andhra Pradesh would have got Rs 2300 if this bill had been passed, he added. The stand-off between the government and the Congress on the special status to Andhra Pradesh leaves a very little chance of the Congress agreeing to let the Rajya Sabha pass the Constitution Bill for bringing in the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) as the Congress leaders said they would not compromise with an adamant government that is not ready to fulfill the special status promise given by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Rajya Sabha to Andhra Pradesh at the time of passage of the bill for bifurcating the state to create a separate Telangana state.