|
|
| |
 Hyderabad, Feb 9: The budget session of the State Legislative Assembly, scheduled to commence from February 15, will be a litmus test for the Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah’s stewardship in steering clear the government from a turbulent situation in the wake of the continuing Telangana and Samaikyandhra agitations.
This is the second time Mr Rosaiah will be facing the Assembly session as the Chief Minister after narrowly escaping from being mauled by the combined Opposition during the first session in December last. The ruckus created in the House by the members for and against the bifurcation of the state led to it being abruptly adjourned sine die and thus saved the Chief Minister a lot of embarrassment.
Now, the Assembly is vertically divided with the members from the Telangana region, irrespective of their political affiliations demanding a separate state while the members from both the Rayalaseema and Andhra regions espousing the cause for a unified state.
Despite the Central government constituting the five-member experts’ committee headed by Justice Srikrishna to work out a mechanism for preparing the road map for Telangana state, the terms of reference of the committee have not yet been finalized following the Telangana JAC and the Samaikyandhra JAC prescribing their own terms and conditions.
Thus, the delay in Justice Sri Krishna Committee to commence its deliberations and consultations is also expected to have its own impact on the budget session of the Assembly. The Telangana JAC has already warned that if the terms of reference of the experts committee are not in tune with their expectations, the MLAs of all parties associated with it would not only boycott the session but also would force their resignations.
The Congress legislators from Telangana met on Tuesday at the residence of the Rajya Sabha member, Dr K. K Kesava Rao, and discussed about their role and strategy to be adopted during the budget session. They also made it clear that they would stay away from the House if the terms of reference of the experts committee were not upto their liking. The legislators, in favour of a unified state, are also airing similar views.
POLITICAL UNCERTAINTY
Amidst this background and political uncertainty, the budget session might not be held with Mr Rosaiah getting ready to set another record to present the annual budget, for the first time as a Chief Minister. Realizing that the Assembly session will be a stormy affair and that a full support and backing of his party men, especially his ministers, was very essential in facing the Opposition onslaught, the Chief Minister began his exercise to rein in his cabinet colleagues.
Mr Rosaiah has been holding review meetings with his cabinet colleagues from the three regions separately. He impressed upon them the imperative need for cooperation among themselves setting aside their regional feelings. The leadership qualities of Mr Rosaiah to take his team like a well-knit family would be put to test.
Similarly, the performance of the ministers would also be under scanner for their continuance or otherwise in the ministry when the Chief Minister is bound to reshuffle his cabinet after the budget session.
The Opposition’s credibility, especially that of the Telugu Desam party, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and BJP, would also come for close scrutiny. These parties which are associated with the JAC have been shouting from roof tops about resigning from the Assembly for the cause of Telangana state. The JAC has also declared that the MLAs associated with it would resign if the terms of reference of the experts committee were not favourable to it. Thus, all attention would be focused on these parties to act as declared by the JAC.
All said and done, uncertainty looms large on the budget session.
|
|
|
|
|
|