The strategy of YSR Congress to corner the defector-MLAs with a whip had been fizzled out . The party expected that it could force a division on the appropriation bill in Assembly today and create a condition where the defectors could violate the whip. The violation could be used to invoke the disqualification provisions against the MLAs. But the speaker didn’t allow the division after the debate on the appropriation bill. The whip fell through.
The speaker said there was no need for the division on the bill. ” I took the advice of the constitutional experts. They all suggested that there was no need for the division. When the difference between the numbers of opposition and treasury benches is thin, it warrants a division. Here the situation is different. The opposition leader earlier had clearly mentioned that the government would win and we didn’t have numbers. So, the same situation will get repeated. The objective of the division has no connection with the budget. So, allowing division is not in the interest of the state and the budget,” the speaker said and put the bill for voting amid the slogan-shouting from the opposition benches. The budget had been passed with voice vote amid the commotion. Later the speaker adjourned the House sine die.
This is for the third time, the whip issued by the opposition party to trap the defector MLAs, went ineffective because of strategy adopted the government. First a no-confidence motion was moved against the government with the intention of issuing a whip to commit the defectors to the whip. But, government’s decision to allow the no-confidence motion within hours after the BAC admitted the motion, robbed the YSRC the time needed to issue the whip and summon all MLAs to the House.
The very next day , the opposition party issued no-confidence motion against speaker. Though the party issued the whip, the government’s strategy to allow the tabling of the motion immediately caught the opposition party by surprise. The party thought it would get enough time to issue the whip and summon all MLAs. Though the division was allowed, the whip could not be carried out as all eight members skipped the House.
Thinking that the appropriate bill, would provide third and best option to invoke the whip, the YSRCP this time round made foolproof arrangements to deliver the whip to the defectors through special messengers. When the MLAs were not available to deliver the three-line whip, the copy was pasted on the doors of the House of MLAs. When the party was hopeful of the division, the speaker dismissed the demand.
Jagan cried foul over the speaker’s decision. “Demanding the division on Appropriation bill is our constitutional right. Still it was denied. Division was disallowed only to save the defectors from being disqualified,” Opposition leader Jagan lamented
.
