Telangana finance minister presents Rs 2.56 lakh crore budget, three BJP MLAs suspended from House

The budget for the financial year 2022-23 is around Rs 26,000 crore higher than the Rs 2,30,825.96 for 2021-22. The size of the 2020-21 budget was Rs 1,82,914.42 crore.

Telangana Finance Minister T Harish Rao at a temple in Hyderabad before presenting the Budget. (Photo: Special arrangement)

Minutes after the minister commenced his speech at 11.30 am, Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy suspended BJP MLAs T Raja Singh, M Raghunandan Rao, and Eatala Rajender “from the service of the house till the end of the session” after the house passed a motion moved by minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav for allegedly disturbing the house.

The action comes after the three MLAs raised objections to the finance minister’s speech which had begun with a direct attack on the Union government blaming it for discrimination and neglect towards Telangana. He blamed the Center for allegedly creating hurdles in the path of Telangana’s progress.

BJP MLAs T Raja Singh, M Raghunandan Rao and Eatala Rajender protest temporary suspension (Photo: Special arrangement)

Stating that Telangana has made rapid progress in the last eight years to become a torchbearer for the rest of the country to follow, the finance minister called the budget ‘a KCR-mark budget’ dedicated to the poor and farmers of the state, reflecting the wishes of people and government’s promises to them.

After being escorted out of the house, the three BJP MLAs sat in protest outside the gates of the state Legislative Assembly and then moved to the Telangana Martyrs’ Memorial to pay their tributes.