Lokayukta selection, a suspense

Hyderabad: In the absence of a Leader of the Opposition in both the State Assembly and the Legislative Council, it is a matter of great interest to see who will be invited for the meeting proposed by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to select the Lokayukta, Upa Lokayukta and Chairman of the State Human Rights Commission.

The selection committee to choose people for these posts consists of the Chief Minister, Assembly Spea-ker, Legislative Council Chairman, and Leaders of the Opposition in the Assembly and Council. To be considered the main opposition party, the party must have 12 members in the Assembly and four members in the Legislative Council. But, currently, no opposition party has 12 members in the Assembly and four members in the Council.

The Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) has seven members in the Assembly, the Congress has six and the BJP, one member. In the Council, the MIM has two members, while the Congress and the BJP have one member each.

Usually, the post of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman in the Assembly is given to a member of the main opposition party. In the absence of a main opposition in the Assembly, this post was given to the MIM which has the most number of members.  After the Congress’ strength was reduced to six from 19 due to the defections of its members, the MIM asked the Assembly Speaker to recognise it as the main opposition party and the leader of the party in the Assembly as the Leader of the Opposition.

Meanwhile, for the meeting proposed by Mr Rao to select the Lokayukta and State Human Rights Commission Chairman, it is interesting to see who will be invited from the Opposition. Whether no one will be invited as there is no leader of the opposition, or whether an MIM member will be invited, as it is the second largest party in the Assembly is not yet clear.

CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said that the government should invite the Congress as a member of the committee that will make the two appointments. Speaking to this newspaper, he said if the government invites MIM, the Congress will approach the courts. The MIM is not an opposition party in the Assembly but is a ‘friendly’ party of the ruling TRS, Mr Bhatti said, and Mr Rao has said so openly several times. He said if an MIM member is invited to the meeting, the purpose of constituting the committee will be defeated.