Telangana / Controversy over not starting session with Governor's address, BJP-Congress protested

A political controversy has erupted in Telangana over the absence of the Governor's address in the budget session starting from March 7. Opposition parties BJP and Congress have been criticizing the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi over this, but experts say that the state government is technically correct on this issue and it is not a violation of rules.

An official press release issued earlier this week said that the budget session would begin on March 7 and Finance Minister T Harish Rao would present the budget on the same day. State BJP President and MP Bandi Sanjay Kumar criticized Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao for not keeping the Governor's address.

Referring to Rao's statement of supporting the new constitution in the country, he tweeted that KCR is already indicating what he wants in the rewritten constitution. No rules, no traditions... just fads. He condemns his decision not to hold the Governor's address in the budget session. BJP MP Dharmapuri Aravind and other party leaders also criticized Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan for not keeping the address.

On the other hand, Congress MLC T Jeevan Reddy asked why the last session, which ended in October 2021, was not prorogued. At the same time, he said that it is not mentioned anywhere that there is no need for the Governor's address as the House has not been prorogued. He said that the steps taken by the government would be informed in the Governor's address at the beginning of the financial year.

Minister Reddy said, the budget session is the remaining part of the previous session

On the statements of BJP leaders, State Assembly Affairs Minister Vemula Prashant Reddy said that this budget session is the remaining part of the previous session, so the Governor's address was not kept. Referring to the constitutional provisions, he said that when a new session starts in a calendar year, the Governor's address is given. There have been many such cases in the past when the Governor's address was not delivered. If a session has not been prorogued, it would be wrong to invite the Governor.

There should be no mention of Governor's address in the budget session in the constitution: Experts

Journalism professor and former MLC K Nageshwar said that there is no mention in the Constitution that the budget session should begin with the Governor's address.

He referred to Article 176(1) and said that the Constitution states that the first session of the year should begin with the Governor's address, but the previous session was prorogued. In such a situation, the meeting of the Legislative Assembly is being held in the second phase of the last session. This is not a new session, so the Governor's address is not necessary. So the KCR government is technically correct.

They say that KCR is upset over the non-acceptance of Kaushik Reddy's recommendation for MLC by the Governor. On the other hand, Professor of Law and former Central Information Commissioner M Sridhar Acharyulu said that the State Government is technically correct on this issue but it would have been better if the Governor and the State Government were of the same opinion.