Punjab Budget session from today, likely to be a stormy affair

Chandigarh, March 2

The Aam Aadmi Party is bracing for countering the Opposition attack on the treasury benches in the Budget session of the Vidhan Sabha beginning Friday.

11 sittings proposed

• The House session will be held in two phases this time — from March 3 to 11 and then from March 22 to 24
• This is because the G20 Summit will be held in Amritsar during the intervening days
• In all, 11 sittings of the House are proposed to be held

Opposition parties, mainly the Congress, are expected to attack the government over the recent Ajnala incident, the Quami Insaaf Morcha protests in Mohali, drug menace, the state of finances and some appointments made by the government recently.

The Treasury benches will take on the Opposition parties on the issue of corruption cases being dug out by the Vigilance Bureau. They will likely to use the findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) for 2021-22 (when Congress was in power) to hit out at 18 Congress MLAs. The report of the CAG is to be presented in the House on March 7.

The 92 MLAs of the ruling party will also apprised over the weekend on how to deal with the Opposition charges against their party.

The House session will be held in two phases this time – from March 3- 11 and from March 22-24. This is because the G-20 Summit is to be held in Amritsar during the gap days. A total of 11 sittings of the House are proposed.

Though the highlight of the Budget session is always the presentation of the Budget proposals by the Finance Minister, this time, the Governor’s speech, scheduled for Friday, too is being keenly watched. With the Governor often questioning various decisions taken by the state government and being critical of the government handling of issues during his three visits to border areas, the ruling party is wary of how the Governor’s Address will go on Friday.

Generally, the speech is prepared by the state government, highlighting their achievements in the past year and the Governor reads the speech.

Among the legislative business to be discussed in the House is the Salaries and Allowances of the Chief Whip in the Punjab Legislative Assembly Act. The Bill was passed by the Cabinet in December, which allows a Cabinet rank status to second term AAP MLA Baljinder Kaur, as Chief Whip of the ruling party.