WB budget session begins on Feb 25

The three-day budget session of the West Bengal Assembly will commence on February 25, Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee said today.
The budget (vote on account) will be placed on February 26.
Banerjee today held an all party meeting in his chamber in the Assembly premises.
Assuring opposition leaders that they will not find the
government wanting in enabling discussion on any issue of concern to them, Naidu said the government was aware of the issues and events that the parties are concerned about and would like those to be discussed in the Parliament.
"These include demand for reservation of Jats, incidents in the JNU and related developments in a Delhi Court, suicide of Rohit Vemula, political events in Arunachal Pradesh. The government is as much concerned about these issues as any other party and we are more than keen for a detailed discussion on all of them," he said.

Naidu also said the government was firmly committed to upholding the principles of Constitution in letter and spirit.

While it was clear that the opposition was not keen on taking up any major legislative business, Naidu chose to flag the government's keenness to pass bills like GST.
"GST Bill passed by Lok Sabha and as reported by the Select Committee of Rajya Sabha and the Real Estate (Development & Regulation) as reported by the Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha are pending in the Upper House. There is widespread interest and enthusiasm over the passage of these two important Bills. The government believes that it is time now to take forward these two legislations," he said.

Holding the government squarely responsible for non-functioning of Parliament in the last two sessions, Azad said the government and the ruling party have failed to take any action on the issues raised by the opposition over controversial statements made by BJP leaders.
"If the government feels helpless to take action, it should authorise a committee of opposition parties to take action against them," he said, adding that the fact is Parliament is "vertically divided". No opposition party is responsible for that and the "blame squarely lies with the ruling party, which has failed to rein in its people", Azad said.

Rejecting the government's charge against the opposition, he wondered how can the latter be held responsible for incidents like Pathankot terror strike, imposition of President's Rule in Arunachal, raids on non-BJP Chief Ministers, the JNU row and bashing up of journalists in court.
Upping the ante on the JNU row, Yechury said, "There was manufactured evidence (in Germany, which led to) burning of Reichstag building, which all ended with the end of World War II. Similarly, there is manufactured row in JNU. Manufactured evidences were given.
"Those, who are responsible for this are moving free. There is lot of talk about nationalism over the JNU row. It is very similar to the nationalism that Hitler used to come to power," Yechury said.

Besides, the CPI(M) leader accused the government of "complete lack of governance" and said as an instance some leaders had to attend today's all-party meeting without taking bath as there was no water in Lutyens Delhi. He was referring to the governments' handling of the Jat agitation in Haryana which led to disruption of water supply to Delhi.
Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandopadhyaye said the ruling party has an important role in running Parliament.