BAC opts for 1-wk session

Hyderabad: The Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting, which was held under the Chairmanship of Legislative Assembly Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar after the adjournment of the Assembly's first day of winter session on Monday, took a tentative decision to hold the winter session for a week.

Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka, Ministers D Sridhar Babu and Ponnam Prabhakar attended the BAC meeting held in the Speaker's Chamber. T Harish Rao (BRS), Aleti Maheshwar Reddy (BJP), Akbaruddin Owaisi (AIMIM), Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao (CPI) and officials participated in the meeting. The agenda of the Assembly’s working days was finalized in the meeting.

After the meeting, former minister and BRS leader Harish Rao said that he insisted on holding assembly sessions for 15 days. He said that the Speaker had said that they would run the house for one week and then hold BAC meeting again.

Harish Rao said he requested that he be given an opportunity to give a power point presentation (PPT) in the Assembly. He explained that Speaker Gaddam Prasad Kumar said that he would think about it and make a decision.

Harish recalled how Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, then Leader of Opposition in Assembly, boycotted the Assembly for not giving a chance to the Congress in the past. Harish Rao asked whether BRS should boycott the House if the Congress government doesn’t give it a chance to make a presentation.

BJP Legislative Party Leader Aleti Maheshwar Reddy said that he had requested the Speaker to hold the Assembly session for at least 20 days. He explained that he had requested time for discussing 32 issues. Reddy said that it was decided to hold the sessions from January 2 to 7. He said that there would be another BAC meeting on January 7.

Pointing out that it is not right to hold meetings for mere two days, Maheshwar Reddy said that the state is struggling with many problems. The government, which lacks the courage to discuss them, is once again talking about ending the winter session in three or four days as usual. “There is a match-fix between Congress and the main Opposition. But we will question the government on all issues in the Assembly", Maheshwar Reddy said.

AIMIM LP leader Akbaruddin Owaisi suggested to the government that it should not repeat the mistakes committed by the previous BRS government in running the House. He said that there are many issues to be discussed in the House and hence the government should run the Assembly for more days. However, Government Whip Beerla Ilaiah said that the government is ready to conduct the House for as many days as possible. He said that they requested the Speaker to allow the House to debate on the MNREGA issue.