The Andhra Pradesh special status issue wasn't taken up in parliament amid row over Bhagwant Mann's video
The ruckus over Aam Aadmi Party MP Bhagwant Mann's video of parliament disrupted both houses, but helped the government out of a tricky situation.
Listed in the Rajya Sabha today was a private member bill moved by the Congress' KVP Ramachandra Rao, seeking that the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 be amended to provide special category status to Andhra Pradesh, post its bifurcation to form new state Telangana.
The Congress wanted to push the government into making its stand on the issue clear and had issued a whip to all its lawmakers to be present in the upper house when the bill was taken up. The Left and other opposition parties too had decided to support the bill.
But as soon as parliament convened today, the ruling BJP's members along with ally Akali Dal were on their feet noisily disrupting house proceedings over the AAP lawmaker's video of his drive into parliament. In a rare occurrence, protests from the government benches forced the chair to adjourn the house till Monday.
Granting special category status to Andhra Pradesh will mean an additional financial burden for the Centre as such states get a bigger chunk of central assistance as grants than as loans. Also, the government fears it will trigger a race among states for such status.
But the BJP-led government can ill-afford to be seen as going against a bill that seeks special status for a state which voted its ally the Telugu Desam Party to power two years ago. Also, it is still in a minority in the upper house.
Today's adjournment thus allowed it reprieve, however temporary. Since private member bills or bills moved by members who are not ministers are taken up only on Fridays, the issue will not come up again at least for a week now.
The opposition is fuming. "If they want action against Mann, they have a majority in the Lok Sabha. They denied the people of Andhra their due as promised by the Prime Minister," said Left leader Sitaram Yechury.
When asked on Thursday what the government's stand would be on Dr Rao's bill, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar would only say, "We will decide on Friday".
The government says it will provide all assistance to Andhra Pradesh anyway. "The Congress has no locus standi. The bill is of no significance. Through the Centre we will give all help to Andhra," junior minister for science and tech YS Choudhry of the TDP told NDTV.
Both the Congress and the BJP have earlier promised special category status to the residual Andhra Pradesh, which started off as a revenue-deficit state with the cash-rich Hyderabad region being included in Telangana.