TRS To Move 'No-Confidence' Motion In Assembly Budget Sessions, Govt. Defends

In Andhra Pradesh, politics always takes many interesting turns to solve any issue. This time, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president K Chandrasekhar Rao said that his party would move a no-confidence motion against the Kiran Kumar Reddy government during the budget session of the assembly starting on Wednesday. KCR said that they have decided to move a no-trust motion because of the ruling Congress government’s anti-people policies including the power hike. He claimed that the motion is being supported by the BJP and talks are on with like-minded parties including the Left and the MIM. 
    
KCR said the decision to move the notrust motion was taken in the TRS legislative party meeting held here on Monday at the party office. TRS also resolved to stall the proceedings of the Assembly seeking tabling of a bill on Telangana in the House. Among the other resolutions, the TRS urged the state government to ensure 7-hour power supply to the farmers and effect pay revision for the government employees. It also extended support to the Sadak Bandh on March 21, highway blockade announced by Telangana Political Joint Action Committee (TJAC) in support of the separate state demand. 
    
While the principal Opposition party Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and YSR Congress are sparring over the no-confidence motion with each wanting the other to make such a move, the TRS announcement came as a surprise. “We will move the no-confidence motion, and it would be a litmus test for the other parties indulging in political chicanery on the issue. Once the motion is moved in the House, it will become clear who is backing whom.” 
    
As if reinforcing his claims, both TDP and YSR Congress leaders said that they would not back the motion as they believe that the TRS was playing politics. “We are the principal Opposition party and it is our duty to support the no-confidence motion moved by anybody. However, we need to consider the motives behind such moves. The TRS must convince us that its intentions are clean and clear, and the TDP would take call accordingly,” said Gali Muddu Krishnama Naidu, floor leader of TDP in the Assembly. 
    

Bajireddy Govardan, a spokesperson of YSR Congress, said his party would not pay heed to the TRS move. “The TRS has lost its credibility, and we are not in a position to believe its claims. It is not even clear that on what issue it is intending to move the no-confidence motion. However, we will discuss it in our legislative party meeting before taking a decision,” he said. 
    
According the House rules, any single member can issue notice on the no-confidence motion to the Speaker, and once the Speaker admits the notice and seeks consent of the House, at least one-tenth of the total number of members must support the motion before it is taken up for debate and put to vote. 
    
While the TRS with 17 members needs 13 more members in the 294-member House in order to get the consent for its no-confidence motion, the party is banking on the support of BJP (3), CPI (3), CPM (1), MIM (7), and four independents including Nagam Janaradan Reddy. 
    
While BJP, Left parties, and the independents have expressed their support, MIM remains non-committal. An MIM leader said his party would take a decision after assessing the situation.

Cong gears up to put TDP on the mat
Officials Of Various Depts Told To Keep Data Ready Before The Start Of Budget Session. Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy has decided to take on opposition by releasing statistical details of various departments that would explain development taken place during Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Congress regimes during the last 20 years. While TDP was in power for 10 years from 1994 to 2004, Congress has been in power since then. 
    
By presenting the data, Congress hopes to prove that its record is much better compared to TDP. This was the strategy worked out at a high-level meeting chaired by the CM, which was attended by ministers and senior officials here on Monday. 
    
The budget session is to be held in two phases beginning March 13 with governor ESL Narasimhan’s address to the joint session of the Assembly and the presentation of the state budget for 2013-14 on March 18. Thereafter, the legislature will take a month-long break to enable the proposed departmental Standing Committees to study the budget proposals in detail and submit their recommendations. “We are preparing all the data so that we can answer the opposition in a fitting manner. We will prove that it was only during the Congress regime that poor people benefited,” minister Baswaraj Saraiah told INN. 
    
The chief minister had directed the senior officers to be prepared with crucial information on core subjects pertaining to the last 20 years in order to enable ministers to give a prompt and confident replies in the Assembly and Council. He asked them to send all pending replies to the legislature secretariat before the budget session, said sources. 
    
The ruling Congress party would take up matters like SC,ST sub-plan, special budget to agriculture, Revenue Sadassulu, land distribution to poor and Indira Jala Prabha to outwit the opposition during the budget session. “The Congress has proved its credentials by enacting the SC-ST sub-plan and allocating more funds for agriculture. If one compares the money released during the last ten years and the decade before that, the Congress will emerge as the clear winner,” agriculture minister Kanna Laxminarayana told INN. 
    
The high-level meeting decided to appoint a nodal officer in each department to look after the translations and its accuracy and ensure an error-free information to the House.