The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) forced successive adjournments of the Lok Sabha on Tuesday over the delay in setting up a separate High Court in the newly formed State as was promised in The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.
The Government’s effort to break the logjam with an assurance from Union Law Minister D. V. Sadananda Gowda that he would convene a meeting with the Chief Ministers of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and the Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court within 15 days to settle the bifurcation fell on deaf ears as TRS members refused to lift their siege of the Well.
The TRS contention was that there was no need for consultation as the Telangana Government had already identified premises for the new High Court and the public interest litigation on its bifurcation had been disposed some days back.
The issue dominated proceedings for the greater part of the pre-lunch session with TRS members – who had come wearing party colours and carrying placards -- submitting an adjournment notice which was disallowed by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan. Though she sought to take up Question Hour, the House had to be adjourned within minutes after TRS members picketed the Well shouting slogans. A second effort to resume Question Hour was also abandoned as the TRS kept up its protest.
There was some let-up in the protests when the House reconvened for Zero Hour with TRS members returning to their designated places when their parliamentary party leader A. P. Jithender Reddy was allowed to raise the matter. His submission was that a separate High Court had not been created almost a year after the creation of Telangana. He even suggested a bias against the new State in the A.P. High Court; stating that only six of the 29 judges were from Telangana.
While Asaduddin Owaisi of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen stood in solidarity with TRS through the din, the Congress also extended support with Mallikarjun Kharge chipping in that the Government should do the needful without any further delay.
