TS Budget Session Begins Today; Cong, BRS Brace for Stormy Affair

Hyderabad: The Budget Session of the Telangana Legislative Assembly and Council will commence on Thursday with an address by Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, followed by the presentation of a vote-on-account (interim) Budget for 2024-25 by Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka on Saturday.

The first Budget Session of the Congress government is expected to be a stormy affair between the ruling party and the Opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), given the upcoming Lok Sabha elections for which the Congress, BRS, BJP, and AIMIM are aiming to eke out maximum political mileage in debates, criticisms, and counters.

The Congress has also decided to target the BRS by highlighting alleged corruption during the past 10 years of its rule in the execution of irrigation projects like the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme, Mission Bhagiratha, power projects, and Dharani land portal.

Last Sunday, Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy announced that his government will table a White Paper on irrigation projects to expose “the huge corruption during BRS regime” from 2014 to 2023, citing a spend of Rs 1 lakh crore on the Kaleshwaram project, poor quality of works, faulty design and cracks in the Medigadda Barrage.

The Congress government had also ordered a vigilance inquiry into the Medigadda fiasco and Mission Bhagiratha and is expected to table the interim inquiry report in the Assembly to expose the BRS government's alleged corruption.

All eyes are on Opposition chief K. Chandrashekar Rao, with political circles unsure of his attendance in the Assembly. While Chandrashekar Rao did not miss House sessions for nearly 10 years, he has yet to make an appearance since his government was unseated in the state. Rao took oath as an MLA and assumed the role of Leader of the Opposition last week, in the Speaker’s chambers.

Revanth Reddy had also challenged the BRS to a debate in the House on the handover of Krishna basin projects to the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB).

Sources said the Congress government wants to expose how BRS leaders and their henchmen looted valuable land measuring thousands of acres around Hyderabad by allegedly using the Dharani portal. The Congress will table the interim report submitted by the Dharani committee it constituted to review irregularities in the portal.