HYDERABAD: Setting the tone for the winter session of the State Assembly, the state cabinet will meet at Pragathi Bhavan here on October 23 while the opposition parties are chalking out their own strategies to counter the government from the first day of the session itself. A Chalo Assembly protest is planned by the Congress on the first day of session to highlight the ‘neglect’ of agriculture sector by the state government. Apart from discussing the government’s strategy to be adopted in the legislature session commencing October 27, the cabinet will approve eight bills for introduction to replace the ordinances promulgated by the government since the last Assembly session.
One of the bills aims at empowering the Road Development Corporation (RDC) to raise loans for taking up the massive road development works in the state.The excise duty on liquor has been renamed as excise tax by an ordinance. A bill in this regard will be introduced. The other bills are in relation to Shops and Establishments Act, VAT, Gaming Act, beedi industry and others. A day before the commencement of the Assembly session, Chief Minister and TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao will meet his party MLAs and
MLCs in the TRS Legislature Party meeting at Telangana Bhavan and guide them on the strategy to be adopted to counter the opposition criticism against the government’s policies.
Legislature affairs minister T Harish Rao has already held a meeting with chief whip K Eshwar and other party leaders over the conduct of the session, it is learnt.
WAR OF WORDS
The Assembly session is more than a week now but the war of words between the opposition and the ruling party has already begun.Indicating that farmers’ issues are likely to dominate the session, Congress deputy leader in the Assembly and Nalgonda MLA Komatireddy Venkat Reddy said that he would lead a Chalo Assembly march on the first day of the session itself (October 27) to highlight the plight of the farming community in the state. “I will organise the march with two lakh farmers,’’ he said and appealed to all political parties to take part in the march and support the cause of farmers.