Following the footsteps of his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has decided to hold the state Legislature’s Budget session without the customary address by the Governor.

The session will begin on March 7 and the same day, the budget for 2022-23 will be presented.

Earlier this month, West Bengal’s budget session began without the Governor’s address, evoking strong protest from opposition BJP.

Chandrasekhar Rao, at a meeting with some of his cabinet colleagues and senior officials, decided to hold budget session from March 7.

According to the CMO, the Chief Minister decided to convene state cabinet meeting on March 6 to approve the budget for 2022-23.

Finance Minister T. Harish Rao will present the budget in the Assembly on March 7.

The Business Advisory Committee would decide about the duration of the session, the CMO said.

This is the first time in Telangana that the Budget session will begin without the Governor’s address.

Every year, the Budget session begins with the Governor’s address to the joint sitting of both the houses.

In the combined Andhra Pradesh, budget session had commenced twice without the Governor’s speech.

In 1970 and 2014, the budget sessions had started without customary address by the Governor due to extraordinary situation prevailing then.

This time, no reason was cited officially but apparently the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government took the decision to send a signal to the BJP-led government at the Centre.

The decision comes in the wake of renewed attempts by KCR to forge a front against BJP. He has been criticising Narendra Modi government for missing the office of the Governor.