Telangana Budget Session: Major changes unlikely

Hyderabad: The Budget session of the Telangana Assembly is likely to begin either from March 2 or March 7according to sources. To the extent possible, the government wants to see that the dates do not clash with that of the AP Budget session.

It now remains to be seen if the Budget session of the Telangana Assembly will be able to follow the changes that have been worked out by the Assembly Rules committee recently.

It may be mentioned here that the Rules Committee which had met under the chairmanship of Speaker Madhusudhana Chary recommended major changes in conducting business during budget session. The panel comprising of members from various political parties gave their approval to advance the time of day’s proceedings by 30 minutes. Assembly session had begun at 10 am during monsoon and winter sessions.

The Rules Committee proposed commencement of Budget session in first week of March moving away from the earlier practice adopted in undivided Andhra Pradesh when it used to commence from last week of February. The committee also decided to cut down on the duration of the debate on motion of thanks to Governor’s address to four days from the previous six days and lowering the number of Assembly committees to 12 from the earlier 16 were some of the other recommendations.

Although it has been reported that Budget session of Telangana State will witness major changes including shortened debate on motion of thanks to Governor’s address, Assembly sources say that nothing has been finalised yet. It may be recalled that AIMIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi (who was in London for medical treatment) shot of a letter to Speaker where he lodged his dissent at what he called ‘unilateral’ decision to change rules.