Hyderabad, January 09: Anticipating a battle of sorts in the ensuing budget session of the State Legislative Assembly which will commence on February 15, Chief Minister K Rosaiah is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the budget passes off with least obstructions.
Even as his political opponents are busy with agitations, the chief minister is preparing his Cabinet to tackle any attack from the Opposition parties.
At a meeting with his Cabinet colleagues here today, the chief minister asked them to come to the Assembly session with adequate information to promptly answer the questions or clear the objections that the Opposition parties might raise.
He wanted the ministers to attend the budget session `well-prepared’ and `well-informed’ with all information at their finger-tips. He wanted them to maintain good attendance during the session.
“The district in-charge ministers were asked to coordinate with the MLAs from their districts on various government programmes and promptly conduct District Review Committee meetings,’’ Information and Public Relations Minister J Geeta Reddy told mediapersons.
The chief minister agreed, in principle, to sanction Rs 1 crore each to MLAs towards Assembly Constituency Development Fund.
He is learnt to have asked the officials to examine the possibility of sanctioning the amount from the ensuing financial year 2010-11.
Unlike his predecessors who would discuss their strategies for the Assembly session with the ministers at Cabinet meetings, Rosaiah chose to conduct one-on-one meetings.
He tactfully divided the Cabinet into three groups, each comprising ministers from all the three regions Telangana, Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra. According to sources, the chief minister wanted his Cabinet to get divided on regional lines ahead of the budget session but develop a brotherly attitude towards each other.
Among the ministers who attended the meeting were J Geeta Reddy, P Sabita Indra Reddy, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, M Mukesh Goud, A Ramanarayana Reddy, S Vijayarama Raju, P Subash Chandra Bose, N Raghuveera Reddy, B Srinivasa Reddy, Parthasarathi, and P Viswaroopu.
–Agencies