Tamil Nadu Budget to be presented on March 20

CHENNAI

Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan will present the Budget for 2023-24 in the Assembly on March 20, at the beginning of the Budget session, Speaker M. Appavu announced in Chennai on Monday.

The Business Advisory Committee (BAC), which would meet later that day, would decide the duration of the sitting. “The Finance Minister is scheduled to present the vote on account for the first few months of 2023-24 and the final supplementary estimates for 2022-23 in the House on March 28,” Mr. Appavu said, while addressing the media.

To persistent queries on the seating arrangement for former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, who has been expelled from the AIADMK, the Speaker maintained that the issue had been settled. Mr. Appavu said it was the prerogative of the Speaker to decide who would sit where in the House.

Mr. Panneerselvam has been given a seat next to the Leader of the Opposition and AIADMK interim general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami.

When asked whether there had been any fresh representation on the issue, Mr. Appavu said, “How will they keep bringing up the same issue, which has already been settled? They will not.”

To repeated queries on the issue, he said, “What matters is what is being said about people’s welfare.”

The BAC, at its meeting, would decide when the Agriculture Budget would be presented in the House.