Cracking the whip, Congress today expelled
six Lok Sabha MPs from Seemandhra who had given a notice of
no-confidence motion against Government opposing bifurcation of Andhra
Pradesh. Faced with dissent in Andhra Pradesh, the party intended to
send a strong message to those opposing creation of separate state with
this decision but a dozen odd party MPs still maintained that they will
vote against the Telangana bill when it comes to Parliament. "Congress
president Sonia Gandhi has approved the decision of the disciplinary
committee of the AICC to expel the six MPs from Andhra Pradesh with
immediate effect," said AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi in a
press release. The MPs expelled by Congress president Sonia Gandhi are
Sabbam Hari, G V Harsha Kumar, V Arun Kumar, L Rajagopal, R Sambasiva
Rao and A Sai Pratap. All these MPs had signed the notice of
non-confidence motion along with some MPs from other parties like TDP
and the party has sought to give a strong message on Telangana issue by
taking this "unprecedented" step. Congress MP Ananta Venkatrami Reddy,
who is among the 12 party MPs from Seemandhra who did not sign on the
notice for no-confidence, told PTI, "we are totally against the bill for
the bifurcation of the state and will vote against it when it comes to
the House. We will see that the bill is defeated." There are 25 MPs
from the Seemandhra region including 18 from Congress, three from YSR
Congress and four from TDP. Maintaining he along with other Congress
MPs from Seemandhra are also opposing the bill, Reddy said,"but how can
we put a no-confidence motion against our own government. One thing is
clear that we are totally opposed to the Telangana bill." The stand by
the party MPs from Seemandhra could be a cause of worry for Congress,
which is repeatedly asserting that it remains committed to the creation
of Telangana. Asked about the expulsion of party MPs, AICC general
secretary Ajay Maken said that Congress is committed to the creation of
Telangana and the latest move is another step in that direction.
Congress leader Manishankar Aiyar attracted opposition BJP's ire today in Rajya Sabha when he said he was not interested in listening to speech of a BJP member on vote on account, prompting the Chair to adjourn the House amid uproar. During the Zero Hour, Deputy Chairman P J Kurien allowed Aiyar, who wanted to ask a question, to do so, which was opposed by BJP members. Kurien asked Aiyar whether he yielded to allow others to speak, to which he said he had no objection and he can ask his question later. As the House got ready to initiate discussion on Vote on Account, Kurien said, "Let us reduce the discussion to two hours from four hours," which was opposed by BJP members including Piyush Goyal who was given a chance to speak on Vote on Account. When it was agreed that discussion will take place as per schedule, Aiyar remarked he was not interested in listening to the speech by BJP member. "You had given me the chance to ask a question
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