Road block: No-trust motion against Speaker in Telangana Assembly backfires
Opposition members backtrack, say ‘time is not right’
Hyderabad: The efforts of Telangana TD MLAs to move a no-confidence motion against Speaker S. Madhusudana Chary seems to have backfired as they lack the numbers.
Not only that, the TD move to bring a no-trust motion against the TRS government has also hit a road block as other Opposition parties are not ready to support it as they feel that the time is not right.
As far as the no-trust move against the Speaker is concerned, TD members were apparently not aware of the rules. The MLAs thought that only 10 per cent of the strength of the House would be required to serve the notice. But the rules dictate that a minimum of 50 MLAs are required for obtaining the permission of the House.
If one goes by the numbers in the Assembly, the strength of the entire Opposition is below the 50 mark. This includes the seven-member MIM which is supporting the government.
Another major hitch is that 11 TD MLAs have been suspended till the end of the session. This bars them from entering the House as well as submitting any notice. They only have one MLA, Mr R. Krishnaiah, who was also asked not to attend the session in view of the suspensions.
After weighing its options, the TDLP concluded that it could not go ahead with the no trust move against the Speaker.
The latest train of thought in the TDLP is to move a no-trust motion against the KCR Cabinet, for which only 10 per cent of the total strength of the House (12 MLAs) will be enough to get permission of the House.
However, even this is likely to run into rough weather as Leader of the Opposition and Congress leader K. Jana Reddy did not evince interest; he thinks it would not be politically prudent to associate with the TD-BJP combine.
TD sources said BJP leader Dr K. Laxman told Mr E. Dayakar Rao that he should take the issue to his party bosses before getting a go-ahead.
When contacted, Mr Dayakara Rao said, “We are not moving a no-trust move against the Speaker due to insufficient numbers, but we may move the no-confidence motion against the KCR Cabinet soon. We are yet to reach a consensus on this.”