There is a constitution to be followed in the country. There are a set of rules (written and unwritten) in the country for the politicians and the elected bodies to be followed.
No one is allowed to cross them at their convenience. There are checks and balances and that is the beauty of Indian democracy.
However, the political clash between the opposition TDP and the ruling YSR Congress in AP, for supremacy, is now witnessing a political, legal and constitutional war in the State.
The TDP saw to it that the Legislative Council had referred the capital decentralisation bill to the select committee by its chairman, who is a TDP man.
The TDP has greater majority in the Council and thus its chief Chandrababu Naidu prevailed upon the Council chairman.
Under heavy pressure, the Council chairman had used Rule 154 of the Legislature, which gives him discretionary powers, but limited.
Now, caught in a row over the very existence of the Legislative Council, as the Assembly had sent a resolution seeking its abolition, the TDP is putting pressure on the officials to start the procedure to constitute select committees.
The officials cite rule 145 clearly tells the officials that the select committees are formed only after due voting in the Council.
As there was no voting conducted in the Council, when the chairman announced the select committee, the officials say that the chairman’s discretionary powers are not as per rules and refuse to begin the process.
Caught in a piquant situation, the TDP is crying foul on the Council matters. Even the threats of issuing privilege notices by the TDP is not causing any fear among the officials of the Council to take the Chairman’s rule seriously and constitute the select committees.
Unfortunately, the TDP is losing its ground for the political game it had played in the Upper House (Council), to beat the YSR Congress which was given a whopping majority of 151 MLAs in the Lower House (Assembly).
In fact, this is what happens to the politicians who try to play politics with the Rule Book or the Constitution.
