If YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has his way, the state legislative council is all set to get abolished sooner or later.
Reason: The two crucial bills passed by the state assembly on Monday – one on repealing APCRDA and the other on creation of three capitals for decentralised administration – were stalled in the state legislative council on Tuesday, thanks to the majority of the Telugu Desam Party members.
The bills were rejected by the council which has majority number of Telugu Desam Party members.
Out of 58 members in the AP state legislative council, the TDP has 28 members and YSRC has only nine members and Bharatiya Janata Party has got two.
There are five Progressive Democratic Front members, five independents and six nominated members, besides three vacancies. The independents and nominated members are also backing the TDP.
Earlier, too, the legislative council rejected two important bills proposed by his government – one on introduction of English medium in government schools and second one on creation of separate commissions for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Apparently angry with the rejection of the two bills, the Jagan government is now contemplating abolition of the council.
He reportedly called for an emergency meeting of the cabinet on Tuesday night to approve the bill for abolition of legislative council on the ground that the council is not serving its purpose and secondly, it is causing huge financial burden on the state exchequer.
The bill is likely to be introduced in the state assembly on Wednesday and it has to be accepted with two-thirds majority. Since YSRC has 151 MLAs, it may not be difficult to get it passed.
However, the council will not be abolished so easily. After the passage of the bill in the assembly, it has to be sent to the Centre for approval in the assembly. The Centre may take its own time in giving approval or keep it pending.
Till such time, the council continues to be there, creating troubles for the Jagan government.