VIJAYAWADA: The next session of the AP Legislative Assembly is set to commence on any day before June 4 as it is mandatory that a six months’ gap should not be there between its last sitting and the subsequent one. Officials of the AP Legislature say that the exact date of commencing the session is yet to be finalised and hinted that it would be a one-day affair to meet the constitutional obligation.
In fact, due to local body elections and Covid pandemic, the State government did not conduct the Budget Session for passing the budget 2021-22 and instead passed an vote-on-account to meet the expenditure of the first three months of the new fiscal (upto June 30).However, as the AP Legislative Assembly was adjourned sine die on December 4, 2020, it is inevitable to conduct the session before June 4, a senior AP Legislature official said.
It is learnt that the session may commence on May 20 and it will be a single-day affair for completing all the formalities like Governor’s address, introduction of budget and approval.“As the prevailing conditions are very serious in view of Covid pandemic, we should take all possible measures to avoid gatherings as a preventive measure to control the spread of the virus. But conducting the session of the AP Legislature under such circumstances will be a tough challenge and we will have to think about all possible angles,” the officer said.
Each MLA/MLC will be accompanied by at least four to five persons and the same will lead to a crowd on the premises and in case of one among them contracted the virus, it may spread to many. “Though we have no other option except conducting the session before June 4, we have to be cautious and analyse factors before deciding a date for the Assembly session,” the official said while reminding that several ministers, MLAs and MLCs were infected with Covid-19.