The Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar administered a shock to the Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy when he declared that the debate on the Telangana has indeed started in the Assembly.
The assertion was made by the Speaker during the course of the meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) chaired by him.
All along, the Chief Minister and his Seemandhra colleagues have been claiming that the draft AP Reorganisation Bill, 2013, was only tabled in the Assembly but no debate has started.
On the other D Sridhar Babu, who has since been stripped of his Legislative Affairs portfolio, and the Deputy Speaker Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka have made it clear that the discussion on the bill has started as per the rules and procedures of the Assembly.
The row over this issue had led to shifting of Sridhar Babu from the Legislative Affairs Ministry. With the Speaker himself coming up with a clarification, the matter should now rest.
His clarification came when the Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi sought to know whether the debate on the bill has started or not.
