For the second consecutive year, the budget session of the Telangana state legislature was held just for seven days to pass the annual budget for 2023-24, which the opposition parties referred to as the shortest-ever in any state in the country.
The budget session during 2022-23, too, was held for only seven days– starting from March 7 to 15.
The budget session, which began on February 3, with governor Tamilisai Soundararajan’s address to the joint meeting of the state legislative assembly and council, concluded on February 12 with the passage of the appropriation bill after the concluding speech by chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
According to the bulletin issued by state legislature secretary V Narasimhacharyulu, the assembly sat for 56 hours and 25 minutes in a span of seven days, including the question hour and discussions on grants for various departments.
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Condemning the budget session Congress legislature and party floor leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka speaking to the HT, said, this is the shortest budget of any state assembly.
“This is the shortest budget session of any state assembly that I have ever come across. The ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) sought to bulldoze everything with its brute majority by avoiding discussions on the major issues of public concern and finish it off within a week.”
In the past, the budget session was held for at least 29-30 working days, the Congress leader said. Besides these mandatory discussions, the assembly, in the past, used to discuss important issues and also emergency issues under Rule 304 of the assembly procedures, he pointed out.
“But during the BRS government, no such discussions have been taking place. The budget passage has become a routine affair with the ruling party leaders,” he said.
Vikramarka said that in the Business Advisory Council meeting held on February 7, the Congress pitched for at least a 25-day session.
Former minister and senior Congress leader T Jeevan Reddy questioned whether this was a discussion on the state budget or the central budget as the ruling BRS leaders dedicated their time attacking the central government, rather than explaining the revenue and expenditure of the state. “Perhaps no other state has such a short assembly session,” he said.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), too, wanted the session for at least 20 days. “No discussions were held on any issues in any form,” AIMIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi wrote to speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy.
“During the previous term (2014-18) of the BRS government, the assembly sat for 126 days,” Owaisi said.
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Former minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Eatala Rajender expressed disgruntlement over the short budget session claiming there was no discussion on any major public issue.
“In my two and a half decades as a legislator, this is the first time that I have witnessed such a short budget session. There was no discussion of any major public issue and the ruling BRS leaders confined themselves to insulting and attacking the opposition,” he criticised.
State legislative affairs minister Vemula Prashant Reddy could not be reached for his comment.
