In a series of twists and amidst high drama, the Legislative Council Chairman MA Sharif has referred the controversial and crucial bills of CRDA and DIDR to the Select Committee. Both AP Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) Act, 2014 which had all the plans to develop Amaravati as capital shelved and AP Decentralization and Inclusive Development of All Regions Bill, 2020, which will have 3 capitals for the state have now been referred to the Select Committee.
Ministers Kodali Nani, Avanthi Srinivas have climbed up on the table before Council Chairman Sharif and strongly protested against his decision. Ministers Kanna Babu, Botsa Satyanarayana too came near Sharif’s podium and tried to argued with him. Finance Minister Buggana, Pilli Subhash, YCP MLC Janga Krishnamurthy and other YCP MLCs have all surrounded Chairman Sharif and questioned his decision. Ministers and YCP MLCs were visibly shocked and disappointed with the unexpected decision of Chairman in the eleventh hour. While the Council saw heated arguments day long, the decision has brought smiles on TDP MLCs and leaders. It gave big boost to the protesting Amaravati farmers who have been protesting unrelentingly for the last 36 days against the state government’s decision to shift the administration and executive capital to Visakhapatnam.
Sharif’s decision brought cheers among capital region farmers who voluntarily came forward onto streets and celebrated the moment. The capital region farmers have shown their gratitude to Council Chairman MA Sharif by doing ‘Ksheera Abhishekam’ to Sharif’s portrait on streets. Sharif has turned into an overnight hero for the protesting Amaravati farmers.
Chairman Sharif has used his extraordinary and special powers and sent these two controversial bills to the Select Commitee. He has quoted the special powers under Rule 154 based on which he referred the bill to the Select Committee. The previous day, TDP MLCs have used Rule 71 – first of its kind – and had taken up debate on the bills in the council.
With this, Opposition TDP’s strategy in Legislative Council has brilliantly worked by temporarily halting the plans of AP state government over shifting the capital. By sending it to the Select Committee, AP state government has no other option but to wait for three more months. So, the clamour and confusion over AP capital is going to continue.
