Telangana Assembly adjourned amidst budget debate dispute

The BRS requested additional time for clarifications, which the Congress declined, citing ongoing discussions in the Legislative Council.

Hyderabad: The State Assembly was adjourned until Monday following intense arguments between the ruling Congress and the main opposition BRS late Saturday night over the State budget. The BRS requested additional time for clarifications, which the Congress declined, citing ongoing discussions in the Legislative Council.

Senior BRS legislator and former Minister T Harish Rao accused Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy of misleading the Assembly on critical issues, including the UDAY scheme and the installation of meters for agricultural pump sets. He condemned the adjournment, alleging it was a tactic to suppress opposition voices and claiming that the Chief Minister’s statements were misleading.

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Harish Rao criticised the Chief Minister for misleading people about the Centre’s proposal to install electricity meters for agricultural pump sets issued on June 9, 2021 that enabled the State government to borrow Rs 30,000 crore over four years.

“While the BRS government rejected the proposal keeping in view of the farmers’ interests, the Chief Minister linked it with an older agreement on installation of smart meters from January 4, 2017, for electricity connections with more than 500 units consumption. This agreement excluded agricultural meters, but the Chief Minister attempted to confuse the farmers and mislead the House,” the BRS legislator added.

He suspected that the Congress might be attempting to blame the previous BRS regime for issues related to installations electricity meters to agricultural pump sets.

Earlier, Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka countered that the State government had no current plans for meter installations and accused Rao of misquoting the Chief Minister. However, Revanth Reddy later asserted that the previous BRS government had committed to installing smart meters including agricultural pump sets in phased manner.