The Budget Session of Uttar Pradesh legislature begins on Tuesday with Governor Ram Naik’s address to the joint sitting of its two Houses.
The government will present its budget for fiscal 2019-20 on February 7, state Finance Minister Rajesh Agarwal said on Monday. The Budget Session is likely to continue till February 22, he added.
This will be the third budget of the Yogi Adityanath government.
With the 2019 general elections barely a couple of months away, the budget is likely to focus on farmers and agriculture and job creation schemes.
Like the Union government’s interim budget, the UP budget will also focus on social and infrastructure sectors.
The Budget Session is likely to be a stormy one with the opposition uniting against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party before the crucial Lok Sabha polls.
The opposition parties have geared up to raise the law and order situation and other issues related to the common man and target the BJP government ahead of the coming parliamentary elections.
The Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress have chalked out their strategies for nailing the government on major issues of public interest.
The other issues to be raised by the opposition are farmers’ distress, delay in payment of sugarcane arrears, unemployment and stray cattle menace.
The legislators of different parties met separately on Monday to chalk out their strategies while Speaker Hriday Narayan Dikshit convened an all-party meet and the business advisory committee met for smooth conduct of the House.
Meanwhile, SP MLA Iqbal Mahmood, officiating as leader of opposition in place of Ram Govind Chaudhary, said the opposition would be united to nail the government for its failures.
“Rise in corruption, deteriorating law and order and the government’s failure to provide relief to the people under various welfare schemes would be the main issues before the opposition,” he said.
“We are in touch with other opposition parties for a better coordination on the floor of the House,” he said.
The SP and the BSP, who have forged an alliance for the Lok Sabha election, would try to corner the government in a united manner.
BSP leader Lalji Verma and Congress Legislature Party leader Ajay Kumar Lallu said their members were fully prepared to take on the government on all the issues.
As per the agenda of the House approved by the Business Advisory Committee, four days have been kept for debate on the motion of thanks on the Governor’s address and thereafter the debate on the budget will start. The session will end on February 22 after the passage of the budgetary proposals.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna said the government was ready to discuss and debate all issues to be raised by the opposition.
“The onus is on the opposition as it has to raise the issues properly as per the rules but if they create ruckus and block the functioning of the House, then the session would not be fruitful,” he stated.
