The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : `Bi-cameral system a necessity'

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Wednesday, Apr 04, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

`Bi-cameral system a necessity'

Special Correspondent

Subjects of public interest must be discussed apolitically in Council: Governor

HEADS COME TOGETHER: Speaker K.R.Suresh Reddy and Council Chairman A. Chakrapani with Governor Rameshwar Thakur (in the background) after the latter's address at the first joint session of both the Houses in Hyderabad on Tuesday. — Photo: Mohd . Yousuf

HYDERABAD: Governor Rameshwar Thakur attributed the abolition of the Legislative Council by then Telugu Desam Government in 1985 to "obvious political reasons".

Addressing the joint session of the Council and the Assembly, the first after the revival of the Upper House, he favoured bi-cameral legislature as a necessity in a federal system. Providing an opportunity to intellectuals/statesmen to act as legislative mechanism without undergoing the ordeal of elections, the Council would serve as a check on possible enactment of laws in haste and heat.

The Governor walked into the ornate Old Assembly Hall, to a red-carpet welcome, flanked by Speaker K. R. Suresh Reddy and Council Chairman A. Chakrapani. He trod on familiar ground in his 40-minute long speech which was broadly within the framework of his address on the first day of the Assembly's budget session on February 12. This was one of the rare occasions when a Governor addressed the legislature twice in a calendar year.

Seeking support!

He was briefly interrupted by Janata Party K. Ramulu who held aloft a placard seeking support to the bandh planned for Wednesday for OBC reservation.

The Governor said the Council would serve as a forum where subjects of public interest could be apolitically examined. Amidst applause, he also paid tributes to Finance Minister K. Rosaiah who served as Council member for 17 years.

Mr. Thakur said the Government was performing well and the State was "transitioning from a long lull to quick aggressive growth". Extremism would be treated as a social problem, and not merely a law and order issue. Education and health would be included in the three-pronged growth strategy adopted with thrust on agriculture and rural development, information technology and industry, and social welfare.

Referring to the Jala Yagnam programme, he said the Penna delta would also be modernised along with that of Krishna-Godavari. The Governor also highlighted schemes launched by the State Government for the welfare of backward classes.

Session till April 10

The Legislative Council will meet for three days -- April 4, 9 and 10 and the Assembly for two days -- April 4 and 9 to debate on the Governor's address. An official of the Legislature Secretariat said Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy would reply to the debate on the Governor's address on April 9 in the Assembly and the next day in the Council.

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