Amaravati: Budget Session of the State Legislative Assembly will commence with the Governor’s address on March 5. The Budget will be presented on March 8. However, there is no clarity on whether the Opposition YSRCP, which boycotted the Winter Session demanding disqualification of those MLAs, who joined the TDP from YSRCP, will attend the ensuing session.

During a meeting with the officials at the Interim Government Complex in Velagapudi on Friday, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu disclosed the date of commencement of the Budget Session.

After commencing in the first week of March, the Budget Session will continue till the end of March. There will be around 20 working days.

Opposition YSRCP likely to boycott session:  Sticking to their demand of disqualifying those MLAs, who were elected on YSRCP tickets and later joined TDP, the opposition party is learnt to have decided to boycott the Budget Session too.
There was ample hint that the opposition party might skip the Budget Session when YSRCP Guntur East MLA MD Mustafa sought to know what was the use of attending the Assembly Session.

“We (YSRCP members) will not (get the) opportunity to raise the issues related to our constituencies. The government is not releasing any constituency development fund for those constituencies won by the YSRCP. Amid such conditions, I think that staying away from the Assembly will be the right decision,’’ he said.

Another leader of the YSRCP also said that as the party chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy was continuing with his Praja Sankalpa Yatra, the party would rather not attend the Session, as attending it would divert the attention and also send a different message to the people that the party did not stick to an issue.

“As we boycotted the Winter Session, demanding disqualification of defected MLAs, we should ideally continue with that demand and should not attend the Assembly Session,” he said. During a meeting with the officials on preparation of the Budget, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said that development would be possible with innovative ideas and directed the officials to adopt a new approach to governance.
“Every department needs to have a chalked-out strategy to optimize its contribution to GVA and GSDP,’’ he said.

The Chief Minister was particularly appreciative of the e-governance model and said, “E-governance has turned out to be responsive governance and we are solving both non-financial as well as financial grievances at a rapid pace.”

Speaking on the need to have an ecosystem for providing the best results, he said, “All the departments must have a benchmark and proceed accordingly. Many of the departments have achieved targets and others also need to follow. Key Performance Indicators have been established and these have created an ecosystem. Ownership by the departments is very crucial to get the required growth,” he said.

The Chief Minister also stressed on following a PPPP model, which is Public Private Partnership with People for sustainable development and as a means of achieving a better and an inclusive growth.
“We have not received any great support from the Centre, despite assurances and promises made to the State under the AP State Reorganisation Act.

People are watching and they have proven time and again that they are the ultimate authority. People have seen the bifurcation episode and are seeing what’s happening now. Their sentiments and feelings must go hand-in-hand with the government,’’ the Chief Minister said.

20 working days

Budget Session to begin with Governor’s speech on March 5
Session to continue till end of March.

Session will have 20 working days
Budget to be presented on March 8
YSRCP most likely to boycott session