Led by Jagan Reddy, the cabinet passed a resolution to abolish the legislative council.
The Andhra Pradesh cabinet has set in motion the process of doing away with the legislative council or the upper house in the state's bicameral legislature, where the ruling YSR Congress is in a minority.
Last week, the legislative council had blocked Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy's pet project of decentralising the capital and setting up three capitals for Andhra Pradesh. Two more bills had been blocked by the council, where the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) of Jagan Reddy's predecessor N Chandrababu Naidu is in a majority.
Led by Jagan Reddy, the cabinet passed a resolution to abolish the legislative council. This will now go to the legislative assembly for approval.
The decision will also need a signoff from the central government and parliament, and so involves several months.
The YSR Congress has just nine members in the 58-member Legislative Council. With 28 members, the TDP has an upper hand. The ruling party has to wait till 2021 to improve its score; several opposition members are scheduled to retire at the end of their six-year term.
Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council Chairman M A Sharrif on January 22 referred two bills to a select committee - the Andhra Pradesh Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Bill, 2020, and the AP Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) Act (Repeal) Bill -- for deeper examination.
The chairman had said he was using his discretionary powers under Rule 154 while referring the Bills to the select panel following the TDP's demand.
The Chief Minister had then told the assembly, "We need to seriously think whether we need to have such a House which appears to be functioning with only political motives. It is not mandatory to have the Council, which is our own creation, and it is only for our convenience."
The legislative council was in fact revived when Jagan Reddy's father YS Rajashekhara Reddy was in power at the head of a Congress government.
In fact, the YSRC had on December 17 first threatened to abolish the Council when it became clear that the TDP was bent on blocking two Bills related to creation of a separate Commission for Scheduled Castes and the conversion of all government schools into English medium.
The YSRC managed to get two TDP members to its side, but the government failed to get the three capitals Bills passed in the Council.
"What will be the meaning of governance if the House of Elders does not allow good decisions to be taken in the interest of people and block enactment of laws? We need to seriously think about it...Whether we should have such a House or do away with it," the chief minister had said in the assembly.