AP Assembly Budget Session to start on stormy note, TD to attend

VIJAYAWADA: The Budget Sessions of the AP Assembly will be stormy with the principal opposition, the Telugu Desam, deciding to end their boycott even as its leader Chandrababu Naidu will stay away this time too. The session starts on March 7.

Days ago, the TD had decided to skip the Budget Session but changed the decision. The principal opposition had boycotted the last assembly session after the ruling benches made some insulting comments personally targeting Naidu’s wife, though in a figurative sense.

A hut Naidu then announced that he will return to assembly only as Chief Minister after winning the next elections.

There was a dilemma among the TD legislators whether they should follow suit or keep attending the assembly session. However, a majority of legislators asserted during the TDLP meeting that it was important for TD MLAs to be present in the assembly to expose the “misdeeds” of the YSRC government.

The TD leaders are, for the past few days, raising the Vivekananda murder case and alleging YSRC MP Avinash Reddy’s involvement in the murder with “support” from Chief Minister Jagan. They demanded that the name of Jagan too be included by the CBI in the ongoing probe and question the CM.

The TD is planning to raise the Viveka murder issue in the assembly to “expose” the “involvement” of the YSRC in the murder plot.

The opposition TD had, before the 2014 elections, campaigned against Jagan by citing the CBI cases like the alleged robbing of one lakh crore through ‘quid pro quo’ deals. TD leaders felt this had helped the party win the 2014 elections. Now the TD is planning to take the Viveka murder case to the masses to defame the YSRC and get the people back to the TD side.

As the CBI intensified the Viveka murder investigation by arresting several accused, the TD feels this is the right time to expose the “YSRC links.”

TD is planning to raise Amaravati, Polavaram and farmers’ issues including the grant of supportive prices to farm produce and other people’s issues. The TDLP would put various issues in the assembly’s business advisory committee meeting and press for discussions in the assembly.

On the other hand, the ruling YSRC is fully geared for the Budget session by exposing failures of the TD government in the Amaravati issue. The ruling party would also retaliate if the Viveka murder issue is raised in the assembly. It will cite the TD’s “corruption” in Polavaram, “cheating” of farmers by the former Naidu government and the U-turns of Chandrababu on various issues.  

Senior political analysts said the TD will raise various topics in the assembly but the ruling party is bent on putting up able resistance. They opined that as Naidu is skipping the Assembly, the rest of the legislators will also boycott the assembly session after creating some ruckus on the controversial issues.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Jagan is holding a Cabinet meeting on Monday after the BAC meeting in which several important decisions are likely to be taken in view of the Assembly budget session.