Delhi Assembly's Budget Session on Friday likely to begin on stormy note

The Delhi Assembly's Budget Session Friday is likely to begin on a stormy note with both the ruling and opposition members planning to corner each other on a range of issues, including full statehood.

During the session, the Delhi government has also planned to present the "Outcome Report" of the office of Lt Governor Anil Baijal, a move that the AAP dispensation called a 'white paper' to hold the institution accountable to the people.

The session will start with Lt Governor Anil Baijal's address to the House, and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia will present the annual budget on February 26.

Addressing a news conference, Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta said the AAP's "drama" over the grant of full statehood and the delay in granting sanction for prosecution in the JNU sedition case will be highlighted to corner the government during the budget session.

Sources in the ruling AAP said the party MLAs might target the BJP over its pre-poll promise of full statehood status to Delhi, made in the run up to the 2015 assembly elections.

"It will be the final battle (on full statehood) for us to get rights to run governance in the city. The BJP has not fulfilled its pre-poll promises," an AAP functionary said.

Earlier this week, the AAP announced a door-to-door campaign to tell people how the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) had done "injustice" to them on the full statehood issue.

The Economic Economic Survey of Delhi 2018-2019 will be presented by Sisodia on February 25. The annual budget will be presented on February 26.

The budget proposals will be discussed on February 27-28, before being considered and passed by the House.

The opposition leader and BJP MLA said the party will force the AAP government to answer about the delay in granting sanction for prosecution in the JNU sedition case.

The Delhi Police had in January filed a chargesheet against former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar and others in the sedition case registered in 2016.