By getting the capitals decentralization bill referred to the select committee in the council, the TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu made its chairman, M A Sharif a scapegoat.
Sharif, a trusted loyalist of the TDP from the party’s initial days and was restricted to the party office in Hyderabad and later in Guntur, was made chairman of the Legislative Council only on February 7, 2019, just two months before the state went for general elections.
Shariff was under heavy pressure from Chandrababu Naidu to ensure that the bill is delayed, not rejected. He had first sought the Chairman to reject the bill, for which the humble man replied in negative.
The Council, by any means, should not say no to the Government Business, as the Houses function or meet for the government business on first priority.
Then, the option was to delay the bill by referring it to the select committee, for which Sharif reportedly agreed.
He had also rejected the requests of the ruling YSR Congress, before the bill was brought to the House.
He rejected their requests when it was also brought to the House, based on the Leader of Opposition Yanamala Ramakrishnudu using rule 71.
Even after the bill was taken, Sharif refused to refer the bill to the select committee initially, as there was no such representation from the TDP for the same.
However, with Chandrababu Naidu seated right in front of him in the officers’ gallery and watching him directly, Sharif, while admitting that his decision was not in accordance with the rule, was using his discretionary powers to send the bill to the select committee.
The chairman was under such a pressure, he did not announce the constitution of the select committee, nor did he mention that the committee would be constituted at a later date. The irony is that the chairman went out of the House, without even announcing the adjournment.
His statement that ‘his decision to use his discretionary powers was not in accordance with the rules,’ had made him a big scapegoat for the political upmanship of Chandrababu Naidu.
The audio clip of the statement of Sharif is now doing rounds in the social media, giving some sort of explanation how and under what pressure he acted in the council and under what pressure he took the decision.