BRS MLAs walk out of budget session
HYDERABAD: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLAs staged a walkout during the budget speech and protested at the Assembly entrance, raising slogans against the state government.
The legislators wore flowers in their ears as a mark of protest and accused the government of misleading the public. They raised slogans such as “budget is a fraud”, “two lakh jobs is a fraud”, and “tulam gold promise is a fraud”. The protest led to commotion in the Assembly premises.
BRS members said the budget had “deceived all sections of society” and staged a dharna near the Assembly media point.
‘Schemes replaced by scams’
Former minister Gangula Kamalakar told reporters that the budget had “replaced schemes with scams”. He said funds were not allocated to Backward Classes (BCs), adding that “their voice has been silenced”.
He said people expected a tola (tulam) of gold under the Kalyana Lakshmi scheme, but alleged the promise had not been fulfilled. “After seeing this budget, the government’s weaknesses are exposed,” he said.
‘Dalit funds cut, Hyderabad ignored’
Kamalakar alleged that allocations for Dalits had been reduced and that weaker sections had been “betrayed”. He said these groups would respond politically in the coming days.
He also accused the government of neglecting Hyderabad despite it being the state’s main revenue source. “Not a single rupee has been allocated to new corporations in Hyderabad,” he said.
He alleged that charges of ₹100 to ₹200 per square foot were being collected in Hyderabad and sent to Delhi. He further said the budget made no mention of drinking water issues in the city.
Kamalakar said that during the tenure of former chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, Hyderabad had seen development. He also alleged that land acquired for Pharma City was being sold.
He reiterated that Hyderabad residents had been misled.
