Amaravati: A brief Budget session of the Andhra Pradesh Legislature will get underway here on Tuesday, June 16 with indications that the government may push through the 2020-21 annual budget on the first day itself, breaking away from normal practice.
Since it is the first formal session during the calendar year, Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan will address a joint sitting of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly.
But in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Governor will make his address via a video conference from the Raj Bhavan, while the legislators will sit in their respective Houses in the Legislature complex here.
Though Government Chief Whip G Srikanth Reddy said that the Business Advisory Committee would meet on Tuesday and decide on the duration of the session, all indications were that the government would wind up the business in two days, rushing through all the required motions.
Normally, the Houses are adjourned after the Governors address but, breaking away from tradition, the government is set to introduce the annual Budget on the same day.
A special meeting of the state Cabinet is scheduled for 9 am on Tuesday where the Budget will be formally approved before it is tabled in the Assembly by Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath.
The Budget session of the Legislature is normally held in February-March every year but, because of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government brought in the Andhra Pradesh Appropriation (Vote-on-Account) Ordinance, 2020 on March 28 authorising an expenditure of Rs 70,994 crore for the first three months of the fiscal.
As the Vote-on-Account period ends on June 30, the government is required to get the Appropriation Bill passed by the Legislature before the due date.
"As the government enjoys a brute majority of 151 in the 175- member Assembly, it hopes to complete all formalities, including the customary motion of thanks to the Governors address and adoption of the Appropriation Bill, in a day," official sources said.