It rather surprising to watch the way Kiran Kumar Reddy’s coterie is readying itself to fight against the Telangana Bill.
The Telangana Bill has been introduced in the Assembly and the discussions have been going on for the past one and half months.
Given this background, Kiran Kumar Reddy’s demand of sending the Bill back defies logic. But Kiran Kumar Reddy is putting forth the argument that since a letter from the Union home secretary categorically mentioned the Bill as a draft Bill, it has to be rejected.
Also, he insists that since there are many loopholes in the Bill, there is no need for further discussion.
However, there is no plausible answer as to why the CM has been keeping silent till now when the correspondence was made during the first week of January.
One argument is that Kiran Kumar Reddy strategically waited for the discussion to reach its fag end and when there was no scope to extend the time limit, he decided to come up with this move.
On the other hand, somebody would have realized that it was a draft Bill rather late in the day.
But given that Kiran Kumar Reddy had himself served his term as a speaker, it is rather intriguing that he did not realize if the notices issued under Rule 77 were valid or not.
In fact, he had spoken about the Bill for seven hours in the Assembly. Already, the YSRCP has been giving notices under Rule 77, which are being rejected by the Speaker.
Now Kiran Kumar Reddy has given a notice under this Rule. While its acceptance is one angle, is it correct to give such a notice without involving the Cabinet?
When some of the ministers are expressing their doubts about the Bill, further action seems to be unclear.
Meanwhile, CM Kiran Kumar is said to have confided to his close aides that he has many more balls to surprise the observers. It is not clear though if this is his last weapon or if he has more such weapons in his armory.
In fact, if this is his last weapon, then looks like it is not going to make much impact. Congress Party Affairs In-charge Digvijay Singh has indicated that the issue of notices will be dealt by BAC or the business advisory committee.
Will the issue be forwarded to the Lok Sabha even if the BAC does not come to a unanimous decision? Is Kiran Kumar Reddy trying to make a big issue out of it instead of making genuine efforts to stall the T Bill? These are a few questions that remain unanswered.
The time is appropriate for Kiran Kumar Reddy to use all the weapons he has. But it is highly unlikely that they will make any impact at this point in time. So, will CM Kiran Kumar Reddy actually try a new weapon now?
