Andhra Pradesh government under opposition fire over hike in revenue estimates from liquor

VIJAYAWADA: The ruling and Opposition members indulged in a war of words during a debate on budget in the Assembly on Monday. Initiating the debate, senior TDP leader Gorantla Butchaiah Chowdary sought to know how could the government estimate to get Rs 8,000 crore on liquor after announcing steps for prohibition.

Instead of reducing the revenue from liquor, going by the promise of prohibition of liquor in a phased manner, the YSRC government enhanced the revenue estimates by Rs 2,000 crore compared to the previous budget, he remarked.

Alleging that the government slashed allocations for several schemes and neglected various sections in the budget, he said that the investors were losing confidence in AP due to the attitude of the government.
Refuting the allegations, Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy said the YSRC government was taking every initiative for the welfare and development of the State, unlike the previous TDP regime. Senior YSRC leader Dharmana Prasad Rao said that the allocations were made in the budget as per the aspirations of people. He said the budget was a reflection of the promises made by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy during his padayatra.

Participating in the debate in the Council, former finance minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu alleged that the YSRC government has ignored core sectors in the budget. The government also scrapped some of the welfare schemes implemented by the TDP government and renamed some others, he said.

Saying that most of the welfare schemes announced by the YSRC government were christened after YS Rajasekhar Reddy and Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, he sought to know whether there was no other leader in India or AP to name them.

Yanamala also accused the government inducting people from the Reddy community in crucial posts in  the administration and demanded to know how can the YSRC speak about social justice now.

Unparliamentary words in House
Vijayawada: Water Resources Minister P Anil Kumar Yadav has appealed to AP Legislative Assembly Speaker Tammineni Sitaram to constitute a committee to make a list of unparliamentary words afresh after studying usage of words in the society.

While explaining the stand of the government on Polavaram, during the Question Hour in the Assembly on Monday, the minister inadvertently used an unparliamentary word. However, after rectifying the mistake, he came up with the request of constituting a committee.

His argument was that some of the words such as ‘Abaddam’ (lie) are being used by people, however, they will become unparliamentary if used in the House and the members should say it as ‘Satyadooram’ (far from truth). He said there were many such words. However, the Speaker asserted that the Parliamentary standards should be maintained without any deviation.