Perhaps it was the least amount of work in the history of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly that was done but this did not stop MLAs and MLCs getting gifts worth around Rs 1 lakh each from the Legislature department and several government organisations as a parting gift for the Budget Session, which ended on Tuesday.

All 385 legislators, 295 MLAs and 90 MLCs, were gifted the latest Sony laptops, HP printers, scanners, Samsung Galaxy Tabs, gift vouchers worth `8,000 for leather suitcases by the loss-making APSRTC, brief cases by the AP Housing Board, vouchers worth `5,000 for Titan watches by APIIC and bottles of honey from the Girijan Cooperative Society.

The Assembly was abuzz with talks of the gift hampers and Legislators or their personal assistants of all political parties were seen carrying the heavy boxes to their waiting cars. Apart from the goodies, this was a good Session for the Legislators as they also got a huge pay hike, which was passed by the Assembly without a murmur. “Who will say no to a pay hike dear?” asked Mr P. Keshav, Telugu Desam MLA.