E-Paper
Haryana budget session from Monday; to be a stormy affair
Budget session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha will begin on Monday in the shadow of police resorting to cane charge employees who were holding a peaceful demonstration in Panchkula on Sunday and seeking OPS, a demand that Congress promised to fulfil in first cabinet meet if voted back to power.
The budget session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha will begin on Monday in the shadow of police resorting to cane charge the employees who were holding a peaceful demonstration in Panchkula on Sunday and seeking Old Pension Scheme (OPS), a demand that Congress promised to fulfil in the first cabinet meeting if voted back to power.
Also, the budget session is coming up close on the heels of the charred bodies of two Muslim men, who hailed from Bharatpur in Rajasthan, being recovered in Bhiwani from a burnt vehicle, bringing to the fore the state of law and order in Haryana.
With about 14 months to go for the Lok Sabha elections, which will be followed by Haryana assembly elections in October 2024, the Congress, which is the principal Opposition political party, will corner the government on issues that the party leaders think will find traction in coming months.
Thus, the stage is set for what could be a fiery verbal duel in the 90-member House where the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) with 30 MLAs has a sizable strength to match the might of treasury benches.
The 14th legislative assembly budget session with 21 days’ recess (February 24 till March 16) will conclude on March 22.
The session will begin on February 20 with the governor’s address, while CM Manohar Lal Khattar, who also holds the finance portfolio, will present the budget estimates for 2023-24 fiscal on February 23.
CLP leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Sunday held a meeting to draw up the strategy to raise issues during the eight sittings of the House to corner the Khattar-led BJP-JJP coalition government.
The issue of former India hockey team captain and minister of state Sandeep Singh, who was booked by the Chandigarh Police on January 31 for allegedly outraging the modesty of a woman coach posted in Haryana, is set to reverberate in the House.
Singh was divested of the sports and youth affairs portfolio on January 7, but he continues to enjoy the minister of state rank despite the clamour for his ouster. Khattar has ruled out stripping Singh of his ministerial position.
Law and order, unemployment, drugs and panchayats opposing e-tendering in developmental works are among other issues the Opposition is going to raise.
The question, however, remains if the session will run smoothly with fewer disruptions and whether there will be meaningful debates on issues concerning the people of Haryana.
BJP-JJP running govt with sticks and bullets: Hooda
“In a democracy, the government runs through dialogue, but Haryana’s BJP-JJP alliance wants to run the government through sticks and bullets,” said former chief minister and CLP leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, condemning Sunday’s police lathi charge and use of tear gas on employees in Panchkula who were demanding OPS.
Hooda said the Congress fully supports the demand of the employees and promised to strongly raise the issue in the budget session of the Vidhan Sabha.
“If the present government does not accept the demands of the employees, a decision will be taken to implement OPS in the very first cabinet meeting after the formation of the Congress government in the state. The OPS has already been implemented in Congress-ruled Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh. Employees in Haryana will also get its benefit on the same lines,” Hooda told reporters after the CLP meeting.
Hooda said Congress MLAs have moved more than two dozen calling attention and adjournment motions in the coming assembly session where dozens of other issues will also be raised.
The CLP leader said the allegations of molestation against the minister, deteriorating law and order, family identity card, cut in pension of senior citizens, cut in BPL card, illegal mining, NGT cases, unemployment, demand for OPS, increasing intoxication, dilapidated condition of roads, the plight of gaushalas, issues concerning farmers, imposition of e-tendering on panchayats, right to recall, etc., are the issues the Congress MLAs will highlight and seek answers from the state government during the assembly proceedings.
