Hyderabad: The opening day of Telangana legislature's budget session was marred by sloganeering by opposition BRS MLAs and MLCs, who targeted Governor Jishnu Dev Varma's address to the joint sitting of the legislature on Wednesday saying it sounded more like a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan.

They alleged that the Governor was made to speak lies by the government. While the Congress members were thumping the desk when the Governor mentioned the welfare measures being implemented by the government, the BRS leader K T Rama Rao and others called it bogus and fake claims. The Governor outlined key initiatives, including a Rs 20,616 crore crop loan waiver, Rs 500 LPG cylinder subsidy for the poor, and plans for a 'Future City' that would be powered by AI, pharma and manufacturing clusters and others.

Irked over the behaviour of the BRS members during the Governor’s address, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy called the government whips B Veeraiah, A Lakshman Kumar, Adi Srinivas and Ramachandru Naik and asked them what strategy they had worked out to counter the BRS in the Assembly. He said BRS should not be allowed to disturb the proceedings and make untrue comments.

He said the Congress members should be fully prepared with facts and figures and counter the opposition effectively. He told the whips that there was a need for perfect floor coordination. He said whips should not be silent when there was some disturbance in the House as was seen when BRS was disturbing the Governor’s address.

He emphasised that the MLAs should participate in the discussions actively during the session. Performance will be the criteria to get political opportunities. They should ensure that government was effectively defended and opposition “false narrative” was countered.