Hyderabad,August 07: In what could be termed as a sad commentary on democratic functioning of the State, Finance Minister K Rosaiah completed his reply to the discussion on the Rs.1.03 lakh crore budget in the Assembly in the absence of the Opposition parties.
Ever since the budget was presented on July 24, the proceedings never went on the lines they should, with extraneous issues dominating the session, robbing valuable time allotted for discussion on the budget.
Hardly any meaningful discussion took place and the climax was that the Finance Minister completed his exercise after 80 members of the Opposition parties were suspended from the House for the day.
Now only demands are left but it is anybody’s guess how the proceedings would go and whether there would be any room for a discussion on individual subjects if the general discussion on the budget is any indication.
After the budget session started, every day it was a slanging match between Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and Opposition leader N Chandrababu Naidu.
For instance, on one day, the discussion on the budget degenerated into verbal duel between the two on whether who was capable of winning the election if there was a direct election. The context was municipal corporation election and though it was not expressly stated, the reference was to the Mayoralty of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation. Naidu had dared Rajasekhara Reddy to ensure direct election to the post to know who was more popular among the people. Quick at repartee, Rajasekhara Reddy told Naidu that the people had shown Naidu his place in the recent elections.
–Agencies–