Appropriation Bill approved in Assembly  

Hyderabad: The Telangana State Legislative Assembly on Monday unanimously approved the Appropriation Bill of 2019-20 by a voice vote.

The Bill was introduced by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, who is holding the post of Finance portfolio, seeking nod of the House for allowing the state government to withdraw a sum not exceeding nearly Rs 91,036 crore from the Consolidated Fund of the Telangana state for the services of a part of the financial year commencing from April 1, 2019.

Leader of opposition Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka (Congress) and Syed Ahmed Pasha Quadri of AIMIM spoke on behalf of their parties. Chief Minister and Leader of the House K Chandrashekar Rao reiterated reasons for the government opting for the vote-on-account budget as Congress party objected to it.

Rao said that state's budget is linked to the Centre's allocations and at present, there was no clarity on who would form government at the Centre after general elections. Congress president Rahul Gandhi is repeatedly saying that his government would prefer to modify the existing method of GST collection, Rao pointed out to second his argument.

Nearly after three hours of discussion, Assembly passed the Appropriation Bill with a voice vote. Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy later announced in the House that during three days of the budget session, the Assembly functioned for ten hours and four minutes with 29 members speaking on different issues. Also, four bills were introduced by the government and passed by the House. Afterwards, the Speaker adjourned the House sine die.