The Budget session of the Rajasthan Assembly, to start from February 29, is expected to be stormy, with the opposition Congress party gearing up to corner the state government on the issue of allegedly derogatory remarks by two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs and disinvestment of some units of power plants.
While the Congress is demanding suspension of MLAs Kailash Chaudhary and Gyan Dev Ahuja for their comments, the BJP said the opposition members were unnecessarily creating issues to impede the session.
The Rajasthan Budget (2016-17) is likely to be presented on March 8, though the Business Advisory Committee will finalise the date.
The two BJP MLAs had recently criticised Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi for siding with those who raised "anti-national" slogans in Jawaharlal Nehru University. Choudhary had termed Gandhi a 'traitor', while Ahuja supported Choudhary for his statement and alleged the varsity was a den of "sex and alcohol".
"The two BJP MLAs have made derogatory public statements and they should be arrested. Congress will prominently raise this issue in the assembly session, along with other issues," Leader of Opposition Rameshwar Dudi said, adding the party had given a memorandum to the governor for their arrest.
"We are demanding action against them and if no action is taken before the session begins, we will take up this matter in the Assembly," he said. Deputy Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chand Meena said the Cabinet's decision to disinvest eight units of the Kalisindh and Chhabara thermal power plants would be strongly opposed during the session.
"Due to financial mismanagement of the government, the debt on power companies of the state has risen to Rs 1 lakh crore, which was Rs 66,000 crore in November 2013. Instead of taking steps to contain the losses, the government is going for disinvestment only to benefit private companies, which will be against the interest of the state," said Meena.
Budget sessions in Andhra, Telangana
The Budget session of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly will commence on March 5. Governor E S L Narasimhan has issued a notification summoning the legislative Assembly.
Accordingly, the proceedings will commence with the address of the governor to the joint session of the legislature. The Business Advisory Committee of the legislative Assembly is expected to meet the same day to finalise the duration and the issues that should be discussed during the Budget session.
Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu is expected to present the Budget for 2016-17 tentatively on March 10.
The Telangana Assembly's Budget session will begin on February 29. State Finance Minister Eatala Rajendar is likely to present the Budget for 2016-17 on March 5.
Bihar, UP brace for village panchayat polls
Elections in village panchayats in Bihar will begin from Wednesday. The massive exercise to vote for mukhiyas, sarpanchs and other village heads will go on for nearly two months. The notification came on February 28 and with the announcement, the model code of conduct is now in place. Ahead of the elections, the government has made allocations for teachers in village schools and madrassas. Although, in theory, these elections are not held along party lines, a party divide is usually evident. So, will the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) recover its lost ground? We will know by the end of May.
March 3 will see elections to 36 seats of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council, in which elected representatives of local bodies will cast their votes to elect MLCs from the local authorities constituencies. Nine hundred and thirty eight polling stations will be set up across the state and nearly 126,000 voters are expected to exercise their franchise.
Counting of votes will be on March 6. All political parties, including the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, have fielded candidates. Web casting of the polling will be done at selected polling stations that will be identified as 'politically sensitive' to avoid any untoward incident like unauthorised movement of unwanted elements.
Officials at the Chief Electoral Office in Lucknow will monitor the polling live on its official website.
Webcasting in MLC polls will be a trial for the 2017 Assembly polls, in which around 140 million people are eligible to cast votes.
