Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, on Monday wanted the Congress party to first reign in its own party members from Andhra Pradesh to ensure smooth functioning of Parliament before the controversial Telangana Bill is introduced.
Asserting this before the media after the conclusion of the all-party meeting, Sushma Swaraj said BJP was prepared to cooperate and support any bill, including the A.P.
Reorganization Bill 2013 provided Parliament functions smoothly. There was no point in blaming and holding the BJP responsible for creating any hurdles to the Bill, she pointed out.
As a matter of fact, the BJP leader is understood to have had a tiff with the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamalnath earlier at the all-party meeting on the same issue.
The BJP leader pointed out that Congress leaders from Andhra Pradesh, including the Chief Minister, Ministers and MPs have been at loggerheads with the party’s High Command on the Telangana issue.
The Congress MPs, including ministers from both Telangana and Seemandhra, have been threatening to stall the proceedings in Parliament in support and against bifurcation respectively, she pointed out and wondered whether there was any scope for the proceedings to take place at all.
Expressing her own apprehensions about the smooth proceedings in Parliament on the Telangana issue, Sushma Swaraj reiterated that the BJP would support the T Bill and ensure its passage provided Parliament functioned without any disturbance and also if the interests of the people of Seemandhra are well protected.
But first of all the Congress leadership should ensure the functioning of Parliament by taming its own members, she observed.
