The Union Cabinet Friday recommended the dissolution of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly and extension of the President’s rule in the state beyond April 30. In doing so, it saved itself the requirement of convening a special Parliament session to ratify the President’s rule in the state. Sources said that since three more phases of polling in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections are still pending, convening Parliament just to ratify the President’s rule in the state was considered difficult given the involvement of many of the MPs in campaigning. It was on March 1 this year that the President’s rule was imposed in Andhra Pradesh following the resignation of Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy over the Parliament’s clearance to divide the state to create Telangana. The Cabinet’s decision, sources said, followed a report of Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L Narasimhan who apprised the Centre of the prevailing situation in the state. Friday’s decision could help the central government gain two more months before approaching Parliament for the mandatory ratification of the President’s rule in Andhra Pradesh. Any proclamation under Article 356 imposing central rule needs to be ratified by Parliament within two months, officials said. The officials added that a constitutional provision provides that “any such proclamation may be revoked or varied by a subsequent proclamation”.
