BJP leaders oppose T Bill

By SNV Sudhir

Visakhapatnam, Feb 5, 2014 : While a section of the Congress leaders, from Seemandhra are putting pressure on party high command and Congress led UPA government not to table the AP Reorganisation Bill in the parliament during the ongoing session, the leaders from the same region of opposition BJP are also demanding their party leadership not to support the Bill which is against the interests of Seemandhra people. It may be worth mentioning here that BJP’s support is crucial for the UPA to pass AP Reorganisation Bill in Rajyasabbha, while the government has requisite numbers in Loksabha to pass it in the lower house of the Parliament.

 A delegation of BJP Seemandhra leaders will go to Delhi on Thursday to request the party leadership not to support the Bill if the Seemandhra interests are not protected and certain changes they suggested are not made to the Bill.

“The Centre is going ahead unilaterally on bifurcation without taking the interests, concerns of Seemandhra into consideration. While the legislators from Andhra Pradesh had sent around 9072 suggestions, changes and amendments to the AP Reorganisation Bill, the GoM on Tuesday sat for only 20 minutes and cleared the Bill. Is it practically possible for anyone to review these many petitions in 20 minutes? It shows how the Centre is dealing with the bifurcation giving a raw deal to Seemandhra region. We will request our central leadership not to support the Bill if the changes we proposed are not made to it,” said BJP national disciplinary committee member, Kambhampati Haribabu here on Wednesday.

He added that the Centre was misusing the vote on account budget session which is supposed to transact business on government spending till the general elections, by trying to push around 39 crucial bills including the one related to state bifurcation.

 “Why are they in hurry now? What were they doing in the last two sessions? It was their MPs who have disturbed the House and now they are trying to blame BJP for their failure to set their house right,” he said and reiterated that BJP is for the bifurcation of the state but not in the manner UPA is going ahead.

BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi too found fault with the way  Centre is going ahead with the bifurcation at the last held party national council meet, Haribabu added.

“Give us mandate in 2014, we will form the government and then bifurcate the state smoothly. We will ensure justice to Seemandhra and the interests of the public in the region are protected. This is what Modi ji had also reiterated,” he said.

BJP Seemandhra leaders have suggested at least 10 changes that are to be made to the Bill related to revenue sharing, common capital, constitutional amendment, solid and time bound assurances on various infrastructure projects in Seemandhra and most importantly, issues related to construction of Polavaram project like inclusion of Badhrachalam division into Seemandhra, to change Polavaram project into multipurpose project than a mere irrigation project as mentioned in Bill.

The BJP leaders would also ask the party leadership to insist for voting on the Bill in both the houses of the Parliament.