As the Telangana Assembly was adjourned sine die, who had the last laugh — Congress or BRS?

Initially, there was a buzz that the government intended to unveil a White Paper on irrigation department on Friday. This nugget of information gained weight when Chief Minister Revanth Reddy convened a review session with Irrigation Minister Uttam Kumar Reddy and officials at his residence on Thursday morning.

However, as the session unfolded, the government had second thoughts and decided to shelve the plan.

Sources from the Chief Minister’s Office quipped, “Where is the hurry for placing all the White Papers in the Assembly one after the other every day in a row? Anyway, the Budget session will be coming up soon. The government will have a debate on White Paper on irrigation then.”

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When BRS thought they won the argument 

The Opposition BRS exuded confidence, claiming victory by putting the ruling party on the defensive. BRS leader and former MP B Vinod Kumar asserted, “They could not establish any one point against the erstwhile BRS government. They fell flat on their faces and had to flee, by adjourning the House.”

Post the adjournment, former Energy Minister Jagdish Reddy argued that the Congress faltered in proving anything against the BRS government. “The Congress had no answer when we pointed out — with the figures in the White Paper — how the BRS had developed assets in the power sector with loans it had raised,” he said.

The BRS seemed to drive home the point that it successfully ensured round-the-clock power supply to the agricultural sector. Despite the Congress challenging this, stating that the suply was for maximum of 12 hours, the reality lingered that it was even less during the grand old party’s tenure — a point the Opposition exploited.

During the presentation of the White Paper on finance, Harish Rao spotlighted the government’s attempt to showcase corporation loans, which they would eventually repay, as government borrowings. The total accumulated debt of ₹6.7 lakh crore prompted no satisfactory response.

The Chief Minister, too, appeared confused when he said it was the MLAs who had to repay the power bills that had fallen due to the power utilities. In the beginning, the Chief Minister said that transmission losses were more than 50 percent in Siddipet, Gajwel, and Old City in Hyderabad, while describing them as power bills. Harish Rao expressed dismay over how MLAs could be held responsible if power bills remained unpaid. The government could use the machinery at its disposal to collect them, he said.

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Congress threw continuous punches

However, the Congress did not fail to grill the BRS, led by the vocal Revanth Reddy, with minimal support from his colleagues, except Deputy Chief Minister Bhatti Vikramarka. Revanth’s prowess in political rhetoric served him well, as he consistently provoked the BRS.

Despite the BRS being on shaky ground when it came to the power sector or finances, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy found stability in political sparring. He delved into the past of BRS chief K Chandrashekar Rao and the AIMIM, putting them in their place when the focus shifted from the government to him personally.

In fact, Uttam Kumar Reddy scored a point against Harish Rao, asserting that the Bill introduced for fitting meters to agricultural pump sets did not include provisions for collecting power charges from farmers. Harish Rao’s admission that meter installation would precede charging farmers for power usage was a subtle acknowledgment of his error.

In the midst of the BRS members’ disruptions, Legislative Affairs Minister D Sridhar Babu, known for his gentility, lost his temper. He staunchly supported the Chief Minister and the Congress members against the BRS interruptions, emphasising that the BRS struggled to provide satisfactory responses during the debate.

Sridhar Babu concluded, “Many times, they had blank faces when we pummeled them on irregularities in the power sector. We never wanted to paint the BRS as a villain. We only wanted to place the facts before the people,” he said. He maintained that the BRS admitted to spending borrowed funds as they pleased.

He highlighted the BRS’s inability to address concerns raised by the treasury benches regarding ration rice distribution and MSP for farmers, asserting that the Congress was sincere in exposing the state’s challenges. The government’s prompt Assembly session, just two days after taking office, contrasted sharply with the BRS’s delay of 36 days in the past.

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