Andhra bill: Govt trashes Sonia charge

Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju blamed the previous UPA government for anomalies in the Act and said his government is working to prepare a more comprehensive bill to address various concerns and shortcomings.

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Amendment Bill, 2015, which provides for raising the number of members of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council from 50 to 58 with the government rejecting Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s charge that it was not fulfilling promises made to Andhra Pradesh when Telangana was carved out of it.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju blamed the previous UPA government for anomalies in the Act and said his government is working to prepare a more comprehensive bill to address various concerns and shortcomings.

During the debate on the bill, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said his government was trying to address concerns of the state’s people. “But the government has inherited the situation …people talk of nine months, nine weeks…you took nine-and-a-half years to bring the bill and we took nine months,” Naidu said, replying to Sonia’s comments that the government had done little for the state in its nine months in power.

Naidu said the original Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act had some mistakes which forced the government to bring the amendment bill. He said while former PM Manmohan Singh had supported special status for Andhra Pradesh, it was not part of the bill brought by the UPA.

He also said the UPA had promised but failed to bring an ordinance on Polavaram project. “But in its first cabinet meeting, our government cleared it,” he said. Sonia had said the Polavaram project was “crucial for the future of Andhra Pradesh” and should be implemented with “urgency, with complete regard to environmental sustainability and with full sensitivity to the Resettlement and Rehabilitation of affected families”.

The Lok Sabha also passed the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders (Amendment) Bill, 2015 by a voice vote. The bill was cleared by Rajya Sabha on February 24.

Source:: Indian Express