Though some Congress MPs did protest, the party could not distance itself from the bill that was crafted by the Manmohan Singh government.
In fact, Congress's inability to oppose the bill, along with the support of parties like YSR Congress and TDP, helped the government push the bill in Lok Sabha.
BJD leader Bhartruhari Mahtab's demand for a division on the bill that includes the transfer of some villages in Khamman in Telangana to Andhra Pradesh was ignored by the Speaker.
Mahtab argued that submergence of the villages due to the Polavaram project results in displacement of tribals not only in Telangana but also in Odisha.
The bill, which replaces an ordinance, was opposed by MPs on the ground that it was unconstitutional as state legislatures had not been consulted and presidential consultations had not taken place.
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, however, rejected the objections on the ground that interpretation of the Constitution was the job of the Supreme Court and allowed passage of the bill by voice vote. Mahajan's observations, however, were criticized by opposition MPs as undermining the authority of the house.
Later, Mahtab said the Speaker should have left the interpretation of the constitutional requirements to the government to articulate.
K Kavitha, daughter of Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and TRS MP from Nizamabad, told TOI, "As a first-time member, I am devastated to see how the Speaker has sought to pass on the responsibility to the courts. She could have interpreted the issue according to her knowledge, as Parliament is the supreme authority when it comes to legislating. Today, they are doing this to Telangana, tomorrow it will be some other state."
However, TRS did not join BJD and MIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi in demanding a division.
As soon as the bill, seeking to replace an ordinance, and a statutory resolution disapproving it, was taken up, TRS members stormed into the well of the House and started shouting slogans of 'Stop Polavaram'and 'Jai Telangana'. Even BJD and TMC members stood up in protest.
Trinamool Congress member Saugata Roy and TRS member B Vinod Kumar insisted that the ordinance itself was "against the spirit of the Constitution" and that the bill and the statutory resolution could not be taken together.
The TRS members contended that the ordinance was unconstitutional as it had been brought about when the separate Telangana state had already been formed. Kumar claimed the President, before issuing the ordinance, had not elicited the views of the state legislature and wanted the government to defer bill.
Mahtab said his party was not against the project itself but "arbitrariness" with which the height of the dam was increased that would inundate 307 adivasi villages in Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
He suggested that the project's design could be altered to ensure that tribals are not affected in any region and said the way things were turning out, there could be no alternative but to approach the courts.
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