Sunday, Mar 31, 2002
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Andhra Pradesh
By Our Special Correspondent
The Minister for Finance and Legislative Affairs, Yanamala Ramakrushnudu, felt was high time legislative wings of all parties took a second look at the conduct of the Assembly and reached a consensus on how best the sanctity and order of the House could be restored. "This has become necessary after seeing the budget session. I am afraid we are going off the track. I do not know what the future holds if things go on like this,'' Mr. Ramakrishnudu said in a chat with reporters on Saturday. He regretted the attitude of the Opposition, the Congress in particular, which sought to disrupt and stall the proceedings, frequently deviate from the rules and insist on having their say at any cost. He did not remember any one question taking more than 45 minutes, but the Congress hogged two and half hours of the House's time on just one question recently -- reservations in the private sector. Call attention motions were converted into debate when the Minister's statement and a few clarifications would suffice. Rule 304 was a provision to enable raising issues of emergent nature, but few availed of this opportunity. Its importance was eroded. He decried the Opposition members rushing to the well too often and in one instance, Congress members bringing in lanterns and a huge banner into the House. It was a pity that the Leader of the Opposition should not only rush to the well but also obstruct marshals from discharging their duties. Equally regrettable was his "browbeating" attitude toward the Chair.
Meanwhile, the Congress said the Government appeared to be non-serious about meaningful debate on the demands or the bills. With the exception of demands relating to Irrigation and Power and a few other departments, nearly 50 other demands were guillotined. G. Chinna Reddy, Secretary, CLP, said a crucial demand like Agriculture was put lower down the order to avoid discussion. The Government could have opted for evening sittings for proper discussion on the demands and bills. It had deliberately tabled the reports of the CAG on the last day to avoid flak from the Opposition. The CPI(M) said the Government seemed to convene the Assembly only to fulfil Constitutional obligation. N. Narasimhaiah, floor leader, said leaders were not allowed to articulate the concerns of the poor either in the House (where closure motion was applied) or outside where restrictions were imposed. The CPI(M) had successfully highlighted several issues -- power tariff hike, plight of Anantapur farmers, weavers, toddy-tappers and proposed hike in property taxes in municipalities etc. The Government preached ethics and democratic values, but wrecked them in practice. Gummadi Narasaiah of the CPI (ML) New Democracy said the session failed to take up people's problems. Independent members like him did not get opportunities to speak except during zero hour. N. Indrasena Reddy, BJP floor leader, blamed the Opposition parties for the inability of the House to discuss demands or bills. Much time was lost on minor issues. Within the constraints, he felt, the BJP had done its best. Its members highlighted irregularities in the Food-for-Work programme, hike in power tariff, cooperative bank frauds, Anantapur drought, spurious seeds and proposed hike in property taxes.
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