Whether it was the Opposition - the Congress represented by N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and Telugu Desam Floor Leader E. Dayakar Rao or the friendly MIM led by Akbaruddin Owaisi, they were at their analytical, acerbic best during the debate on the Appropriation Bill passed by the Telangana Assembly on Friday.
The Opposition registered their protest while supporting it, the MIM appreciated the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi’s endeavour in presenting its first budget. Summing up his analysis, Mr. Reddy termed it “impractical and unrealistic” with figures that were clearly not credible. Mr. Dayakar said the government had not matched its intentions with the requisite allocations. The Congress member said the prime motive for different sections of people participating in the struggle for a new State was a ‘better quality of life’, but it was not evident in the first six months of the TRS rule.
The TDP leader said Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao was a member in N. Chandrababu Naidu’s Cabinet when Janmabhoomi programme was launched. “There is nothing wrong if you make changes to ‘Mana Ooru, Mana Pranalika’ and perform better,” he said. Mr. Owaisi raised doubts over the budget provisions and said only 11 per cent funds were released so far. It meant a whopping Rs. 83,550 crore needed to be released and spent for the intended purpose in the next 4 months. He said that the new State’s finances were worse than the power crisis and demanded a white paper on finances.
