LS bedlam on T-issue delays food bill again
Implementation of the decision to create a Telangana state continues to trouble UPA-2, with the Congress and the Telugu Desam apparently divided on regional lines.
The Lok Sabha saw high drama on Thursday after the government moved to suspend 10 Lok Sabha MPs from Andhra Pradesh — four from the TDP, six from the Congress — for the rest of the session. This could not, however, be carried out as the BJP-led Opposition thwarted the move. And in the complete chaos and pandemonium that resulted, the government’s attempt to move the Food Security Bill failed for the second consecutive time.
The government earlier tried to push through the Food Bill on Tuesday, but failed as the BJP demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh make a statement on the missing files relating to the coal block allocation scam.
On Thursday, in a surprise move, as parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath moved a motion to suspend the 10 members who had been protesting against the carving out of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh, all hell broke loose in the House. The six Congress MPs named in the suspension motion included Rajagopal Reddy, V. Arun Kumar, Srinivas Reddy, Ananth Kumar Reddy, A. Sai Prathap and Harsha Kumar. The four TDP MPs were M. Venugopal Reddy, N. Sivaprasad, K. Narayan Rao and Kristappa Nimmala.
“It is very unfortunate that from the very first day the House has not been able to run. I propose that the MPs be suspended till the end of this session,” said Mr Kamal Nath while reading out their names. Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj immediately rose to oppose the move. “I oppose it.
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