`The budget session of the AP Assembly is scheduled to begin on March 7. While it is not known how many days that the session would be held, it starts with the address of Governor Biswabhushan Harichandan on the first day.

On March 8, the two houses would pay tributes to Minister for Industries and commerce Mekapati Goutham Reddy who died of cardiac arrest recently, on his return from Dubai industrial expo. Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath would present the 2022-23 annual budget on March 11.

While the ruling party and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy is willing to hold the session for 20 days, leader of opposition and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu will not be attending the session. He announced the boycott of the session till he gets elected and forms the government. He took this decision alleging that the ruling YSR Congress had insulted him and his wife. In fact, he broke down before the media felt hurt over the insult.

Now, the big question is will the rest of the TDP members attend the session or keep away from following their leader. It was in 1992 that the then TDP chief N T Rama Rao announced such a boycott of the Assembly when Kotla Vijayabhaskara Reddy was the chief minister. TDP deputy floor leader Kotagiri Vidyadhara Rao led the TDP MLAs in the Assembly as NTR continued to boycott the house. It was only after the thumping victory in the 1994 elections, NTR had returned to the Assembly.

Again in 2017, YSR Congress chief Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, as leader of Opposition, boycotted the House and launched his historic padayatram from Idupulapaya to Itchapuram. He won the 2019 general elections with a thumping majority, formed the government and returned to the Assembly.

Chandrababu Naidu seems to be inspired by these two boycotts and plans to utilise the time to win the election in 2024. While it is not known what is in store for him, the big question is will the party attend the session without Naidu or the MLAs too would boycott?