Two decades on, Andhra revives Upper House

The Legislative Council will now use the historic Council Hall, which has been lying unused since 1985 when former chief minister N T Rama Rao abolished the Council, calling it a 8216;political asylum8217; and a waste of the exchequer8217;s money.

CPI Leader P Nageswara Rao was sworn in as the protem chairman by Governor Rameshwar Thakur. The CPI is a Congress ally. A permanent chairman will be voted in only when all MLCs are able to attend the Council. Sources say Congress8217;s A Chakrapani is tipped to be elected to the post.

The Legislative Council has a strength of 90 members 8212; 31 elected by MLAs, 31 by Local Authorities Constituencies, eight each from Graduates and Teachers constituencies and the remaining 12 are nominated by the Governor.

While the Congress won most of the seats in the all-important MLAs constituency, the Graduates and Teachers constituencies8217; seats were won mostly by Independents and candidates backed by the Opposition. The Upper House will be addressed by the Governor tomorrow. It will then discuss a motion of thanks, which will be adopted on April 10, bringing the current Assembly session to a close.

The revival of the House was one of the key pre-poll promises of the ruling Congress when it came into power in 2004.