Telangana Bill passed in Lok Sabha: row over blackout; Kiran Kumar Reddy to resign, float new party

Three minutes after Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde began the proceedings for discussing and passing the bill, the live telecast of Lok Sabha was cut off. The doors and galleries were sealed.

Speaker Meira Kumar told NDTV that the telecast was stopped due to a problem. "There was a problem, so we couldn't show the live telecast," she said. The Lok Sabha secretariat later called it a 'technical glitch'. Senior Congress leader Jaipal Reddy defended the blackout, saying a large section of media did witness the proceedings from the galleries. (Timeline: Telangana bill passed amid blackout)

Though the BJP was on board with the ruling UPA over granting statehood to Telangana, the party later objected to the way the proceedings were conducted with senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley tweeting that it reminded him of "emergency". (Who said what)

"Today our Seemandhra and Telangana brothers need healing for the pain inflicted by Congress, but they (Sonia and Rahul Gandhi) don't have time to speak a few words of healing touch to them," BJP's prime ministerial hopeful Narendra Modi said at a rally in Karnataka shortly after the passage of the bill in Lok Sabha.

The BJP's Sushma Swaraj called the blackout a "tactical glitch". She said she was not aware that the telecast had been stopped. During her speech on Telangana in the Lok Sabha, some MPs had pointed it out but she continued speaking.(Read)

Deputy parliamentary affairs minister, Rajiv Shukla, indicated that the blackout may have been planned as he said, "There are provisions for TV cameras to be turned off whenever there are disruptions in the house, when MPs are in the well."

The Left and the Trinamool reportedly protested inside Lok Sabha over the manner in which the bill was taken up for passing. "Today democracy has been killed in spirit," said Trinamool member Dinesh Trivedi.

Lagadapati Rajagopal, the expelled Congress MP who used pepper spray on fellow parliamentarians in the Lok Sabha last week, said he had decided to resign and quit politics.(Read)

Politicians from Seemandhra, the non-Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh, including Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, oppose the bifurcation; Seemandhra is worried about a smaller share of water, power and revenue from Telangana once the new state is created.

While celebrations erupted among Telangana supporters, Seemandhra leaders have decided to move petitions in the Supreme Court against the new state. "The way the proceedings took place, it demonstrated how democracy can be killed. We are declaring a bandh in Andhra Pradesh tomorrow," said YSR Congress leader Jagan Mohan Reddy.