AP budget session of the Assembly started at Velagapudi on Monday. Governor Biswabhushan Harichandan addressed the joint session of both the Assembly and the Council.

TDP members, who attended despite their chief Chandrababu Naidu, boycotted the session, raised slogans against the Governor saying “Governor Go Back”. They alleged that the Governor did not take any step to protect the constitutional institutions in the state which were being damaged by the YSR Congress government.

The Houses adjourned for the day after the Governor’s Speech. They would meet tomorrow to pay homage to Minister Mekapati Gowtham Reddy who died recently.

The Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of the Assembly met soon after the session was adjourned. Speaker Thammineni Sitharam, Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, Legislative Affairs Minister Buggana Rajendranath, chief whip G Srikanth Reddy attended the meeting from the Government side, while TDP deputy floor leader K Atchannaidu attended the meeting on behalf of Chandrababu Naidu.

The meeting had decided to hold the budget session till March 25. The Assembly would hold discussion on thanking the Governor for his address. The two Houses would discuss it for two days. Then Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath would present the budget on March 11.

Meanwhile, at the BAC meeting, it is said that the chief minister had criticised TDP leader Atchannaidu for disturbing the Governor’s speech. Atchannaidu told the media that the chief minister raised objections over the TDP raising slogans without considering the age of the Governor. He wondered whether the ruling YSR Congress considers the age of Chandrababu Naidu and respects him and wanted to know if Jagan Mohan Reddy would respect the Opposition leader for his age and experience.

`The budget session of the AP Assembly is scheduled to begin on March 7. While it is not known how many days that the session would be held, it starts with the address of Governor Biswabhushan Harichandan on the first day.

On March 8, the two houses would pay tributes to Minister for Industries and commerce Mekapati Goutham Reddy who died of cardiac arrest recently, on his return from Dubai industrial expo. Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath would present the 2022-23 annual budget on March 11.

While the ruling party and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is willing to hold the session for 20 days, leader of opposition and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu will not be attending the session. He announced the boycott of the session till he gets elected and forms the government. He took this decision alleging that the ruling YSR Congress had insulted him and his wife. In fact, he broke down before the media felt hurt over the insult.

Now, the big question is will the rest of the TDP members attend the session or keep away from following their leader. It was in 1992 that the then TDP chief N T Rama Rao announced such a boycott of the Assembly when Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy was the chief minister. TDP deputy floor leader Kotagiri Vidyadhara Rao led the TDP MLAs in the Assembly as NTR continued to boycott the house. It was only after the thumping victory in the 1994 elections, NTR had returned to the Assembly.

Again in 2017, YSR Congress chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, as leader of Opposition, boycotted the House and launched his historic padayatram from Idupulapaya to Itchapuram. He won the 2019 general elections with a thumping majority, formed the government and returned to the Assembly.

Chandrababu Naidu seems to be inspired by these two boycotts and plans to utilise the time to win the election in 2024. While it is not known what is in store for him, the big question is will the party attend the session without Naidu or the MLAs too would boycott?

The opposition TDP has decided to boycott the upcoming budget session of AP Legislative Assembly.

The TDP said there is no point in holding ‘name sake budget session’ just for a single day on May 20 and for this reason they have decided to boycott the session.

TDLP deputy leader in Assembly K Atchennaidu said that Jagan government is holding name sake budget session for a day out of fear that his government will collapse if Assembly session is not conducted within a gap of six months as per Constitution.

He said the budget session will be meaningful only if it is held for at least two weeks to discuss on budget proposals and appropriation bill.

He criticised YSRCP government’s plans to secure Assembly approval for budget without any debate. He said a full fledged debate is a must to approve AP Budget for 2021-22 which is as big as Rs 2.11 lakh crore budget.

He questioned the rationale behind holding Assembly session at this stage when there are over 2 lakh Covid active cases in state while not holding budget session in March when Covid active cases were just 900.

If there ever was a budget where the government could have gotten away with grotesque welfare spending, it was this one. The YSRCP ruling does know we are in the middle of a pandemic and perhaps the worst economic crisis of our lifetime. In its second budget after riding to power with a massive mandate of 151 seats in the Assembly, Finance Minister Buganna Rajendranath presented a Budget plan on Wednesday with grotesque welfare spending but with no roadmap for improving the State’s financial health or drive growth in industry and service sectors. As many as 22 welfare schemes are incorporated in the Budget while there is no mention of how the Andhra Pradesh government will tide over the corona virus crisis.

Finance minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy on Tuesday presented the state budget with an outlay of Rs 2.20 lakh crore for 2020-21 which is less than the previous fiscal outlay of Rs 2.27 lakh crore (2019-2020) due to slowdown during the Covid-19 pandemic. The finance minister pegged revenue expenditure at Rs 1.80 lakh, while capital expenditure including loan repayments and other capital disbursement at Rs 44,396 crore. Revenue deficit was pegged at around R. 18,434 crore, while fiscal Deficit was estimated at around R. 48,295 crore. The fiscal deficit will be around 4.78 % of the GSDP, while revenue deficit will be around 1.82 % of the GSDP.

The Andhra Pradesh government, in its second Budget, had mainly focussed on its election manifesto’s Navaratnalu — the nine welfare schemes covering farmers, women, medical and health, education and Special Category Status (SCS).

Of the total outlay of ₹2.24 lakh crore, a whopping Rs 35,774 crore has been allotted to SC/BC and minority welfare (Rs 23,406 crore to BC welfare, Rs 7,525 crore to SC welfare, Rs 2,845 crore to Kapu welfare and 1,998 crore to minority welfare. A lion’s share of the Budget was allocated to the YSRCP’s election manifesto of Navaratnalu, including Rs 16,000 crore for YSR Pension, Rs 6,300 crore for YSR Asara, Rs 6,000 crore for Amma Vodu, Rs 3,615 crore for YSR Rythu Bharosa, Rs 3,009 crore for Jaganna Vidya Devenne, more than Rs 3,000 crore for YSR Cheyutha, Rs 2,000 crore for Jaganna Vasati Devenne, Rs 1,100 crore for interest- free loans, Rs 350 crore for YSR Kapu Nestham, Rs 275 crore for YSR Vahana Mitra, Rs 247 crore Jagananna Chedodu, Rs 200 crore for Netanna Nestham and a host of other schemes either named after late Y S Rajasekhar Reddy or Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy (YSJ). A staggering more than Rs 80,000 crore has been allotted to both SC/BC, minority welfare and YSR and YSJ schemes.

The government which claims to be farmer friendly has allotted a mere Rs 11,891 crore or 1 per cent of the entire Budget outlay on the agriculture sector, another one per cent on the healthcare sector or Rs 11,419 crore. The YSRCP ruling probably does know we are in the middle of a pandemic and perhaps the worst economic crisis of our lifetime. Another flagship scheme Aarogyasri, the universal health scheme, has been allocated Rs 2,100 crore. All households with an annual income of less than Rs 5 lakh are eligible to avail the scheme.

The TDP slammed the government saying it lacked vision, no strategic idea or anything concrete in the Budget and it described the hollow approach of the government that was all big talk. No allocations for water, power and roads were made. It lacked a plan to deal with the economic slowdown, inflation or many measures to push employment in the state. The state government seems to have given up developing Amaravati as no mention was made in the Budget. The Budget has not mentioned construction of capital, industrial development or development of backward areas. Further, no measures were announced to revive the economy or accelerate the growth rate or promote and attract private investment or increase efficiency or create jobs in Andhra Pradesh.