Storym AP assembly winter session in the offing

The winter session of Andhra Pradesh Legislature that begins here on Monday is expected to be stormy with the ruling YSR Congress and the opposition Telugu Desam training their guns at each other over a host of issues.

The Business Advisory Committee will meet on Monday afternoon to decide on the duration of the session and the agenda to be taken up.

While the government is said to be ready to conduct the session for about 10 days, the main opposition is demanding that it be held for at least 15 days to discuss several pressing issues of public interest.

The state capital city Amaravati's stalled development, the Polavaram project, scarcity of sand, rising prices of commodities, alleged attacks on its cadres across the state by the ruling party, are some of the issues the TDP is seeking to raise during the session, according to its senior MLA N Ramanaidu.

The YSRC, on the other hand, is getting ready for a counter-attack by raising the "corruption and scandals" indulged in by the previous Chandrababu Naidu regime, party sources said.

The sources said the government is expected to table the report of an experts committee it constituted to probe the malpractices in various projects, including the capital city development, during the previous regime.

There is still uncertainty on whether or not another expert committee, constituted to decide the fate of Amaravati, will submit its report in time so that it could be discussed in the Legislature.

The six-week time given for the committee to present its views has already expired but it has not completed its task yet.

The government is also readying up other business like introduction of various Bills for enactment during the winter session.

A bill for constituting the RTC Fare Regulatory Commission to annually fix the passenger bus fares will be introduced.

But another crucial bill to pave the way for absorption of APSRTC employees into the state government may not come up because of unresolved "technical issues," official sources said.

The state Cabinet will meet on December 11 to clear the draft bills that will be enacted in the winter session.