Telangana Budget on March 19, session to continue till March 27
Hyderabad: Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, who also holds the finance portfolio, will present the state Budget 2025-26 in the Legislative Assembly on March 19, while the Budget session will continue until March 27.
The Business Advisory Committee (BAC), which met in the Speaker’s chambers on Wednesday, decided to continue the session till March 27.
According to BAC’s decisions, the House will debate on the Motion of Thanks for the Governor’s address on March 13 and 15, with March 14 being a holiday for Holi. There will be no Assembly session on March 16, Sunday.
The government will introduce two Bills on extending 42 per cent reservation to Backward Classes in education and employment, local bodies and a Bill to provide sub-categorisation of Scheduled Castes in the House on March 17. The House will debate and pass both these Bills on March 17 and 18.
On the following day, Bhatti Vikramarka will present the Budget. There will be no Assembly session on March 20 and general discussion on the budget will take place on March 21.
Discussions on grants will be held on March 22, 24, 25 and 26 and the discussion on the Appropriation Bill will take place on March 27. The budget session will conclude on March 27 with the passage of the Appropriation Bill.
Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka, Legislative affairs minister D. Sridhar Babu, BC welfare minister Ponnam Prabhakar, former ministers T. Harish Rao and Vemula Prashanth Reddy from the BRS, A Maheshwar Reddy from BJP, Government Whip Beerla Ailayya, and CPI MLA Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao participated in the meeting.
During the BAC meeting, the BRS has urged that the Budget session be held for at least 20 working days. During an informal chat with reporters, Harish Rao said the BRS objected to the ‘leaks’ over details of the session well before the BAC meeting.
He said they raised the issue of how the treasury side is “bulldozing the Speaker not to give microphones to opposition parties,” and that speaking time in the House must be determined by the party strengths in the House.
The BRS also said the House must discuss issues relating to drinking water and irrigation, accidents at various projects including the one the Srisailam Left Bank Tunnel, Sunkishala and Vattem pump houses.
“The BRS also sought a detailed discussion on Krishna water dispute with Andhra Pradesh and the Telangana government’s failure to stop AP from drawing water illegally from the river. The House must also take up the issue of 20 per cent commissions for clearing pending bills by the government,” Harish Rao said.
