Budget Session from Today: Sparks set to fly over Krishna waters

Hyderabad: The budget session of the Telangana Legislative Assembly, which would begin on Thursday, is set to witness fiery arguments between Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and Leader of Opposition K Chandrasekhar Rao on the contentious issue of sharing of Krishna waters.

The budget session would be held for about a week in which the Finance Minister will present the vote-on-account budget. The Assembly will also discuss important issues like the launch of the two of the six guarantees, mainly Rs 500 per gas cylinder and 200 units of free power supply to the white ration card holders.

It remains to be seen if KCR would counter the government’s charges or will leave it to former irrigation minister T Harish Rao to take on the government. KCR, sources said, would be attending the session but may not sit for long as he is still recovering from the hip replacement surgery he had undergone recently.

In fact, the Krishna water sharing issue appears to be the main issue during the campaign for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.

On the other hand, the state government is contemplating to impose a ban on hookah parlours in the city, take a policy decision on BC caste census, present vigilance report on Kaleshwaram and a whitepaper on irrigation and its stand on the issue of handing over the projects to the KRMB.

The proposed whitepaper, sources said, would expose the previous BRS government, particularly the alleged corruption in the construction of major irrigation projects, including Kaleshwaram. The vigilance report which was prepared on the damage of Medigadda barrage and Annaram and Sundilla pumphouses would also be presented in the House.

Since it is election time, Revanth Reddy wants to take a political advantage by targeting the previous BRS government's failures in the Assembly.

Before launching an intensified poll campaign, the Chief Minister would also explain how the city of Hyderabad turned into a hub of drug trafficking during the BRS rule and the measures taken up by his government to curb drug mafia in the state. The government is of the view that the hookah parlours located in posh Banjara Hills had become the hub for consumption of drugs.