Telangana Budget session to begin with Governor's address

Hyderabad, Feb 2:  After the unprecedented rift between Telangana Governor and BRS government in the state, the Budget Session of the state legislature is all set to begin from Friday.

Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan will address the joint session of the Assembly and the Council on the first day.

After a gap of two years, she will be addressing the state legislature on the first day of the Budget session.

Last year, the government had conducted the Budget session without customary speech by the Governor, triggering a row between the Governor and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).

The ruling party had defended the move on the ground that it was not a new session but a continuation of the earlier session.

This time when the government again tried to go ahead with the Budget session with the Governor's address, Tamilisai stalled the move by delaying the approval for the Budget sent by the state government.

The Raj Bhavan had sent a communication to the government, enquiring if the arrangements were made for the Governor's address.

The rift took a new turn early this week with the state government filing a petition in the state High Court, seeking direction to the Governor to approve the Budget.

The bench of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N. Tukaramji asked the counsels to amicably resolve the matter and not drag the court into it.

Counsels of both the Raj Bhavan and the government held talks and reached an agreement.

While the government agreed to have speech by the Governor on the first day of the session, the latter agreed to approve the Budget.

The same evening, Minister for Legislative Affairs Vemula Prashanth Reddy and special chief secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao called on the Governor at the Raj Bhavan, following which she consented to clear the Budget statement.

The next day, Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan issued a notification, summoning the second Telangana Legislative Assembly and Council to meet for its fourth meeting of the Eighth Session at 12.10 p.m. on February 3, Friday.

This will be her first address to the Assembly since 2019.

Amid the latest row, Minister for Industries and Information Technology, K.T. Rama Rao called for abolishing the office of the Governor as it was introduced by the British.

He also alleged that Telangana Raj Bhavan is being used as a political weapon against the state.