Former Minister and Congress MLC T. Jeevan Reddy said that ignoring the Governor’s address for the Budget session is related to the Constitution. It’s not a fight between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), he said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said the Budget session has to start with the Governor’s address whether the last session was prorogued or not is not relevant to it. It is nowhere in the Constitution that the Governor’s address can be skipped if the earlier session was not prorogued.
Presenting the Budget is the Constitutional responsibility of the government with the Governor addressing both the Houses that have to function according to the rules of the Constitution. The issue of proroguing is merely technical and related to the House functioning while Governor’s address is constitutional, he argued.
Mr. Reddy said the like or dislike of the Chief Minister for the BJP is his personal but the constitutional practices cannot be undermined for political issues. The comments by Finance Minister T. Harish Rao on the Governor are surprising and he should know that as per Article 176 of the Constitution, and rule 70 of the Telangana Assembly clearly states that Assembly sessions every year have to start with the Governor’s address.
Is this the reason why Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao wants a new Constitution?, he asked, and said the regional parties have to function as per the Constitution. He also reminded that Telangana was formed under the ambit of the Indian Constitution.
The senior Congress leader said that the TRS government has failed on several fronts, including on job recruitment front in 2021-22, and that might be the reason why the Chief Minister wants to avoid the Governor’s address to escape that embarrassment.
