No biz in assembly on Feb 6, budget on Feb 8, says BAC

PANAJI: In view of PM Narendra Modi’s visit, the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) on Thursday decided that the Goa Legislative Assembly will not conduct any business on Feb 6. The BAC, which comprises opposition and ruling MLAs, also agreed to extend the budget session by one day.
Chief minister Pramod Sawant will present the state budget on Feb 8.
The budget session starts on Feb 2 and the business to be conducted Feb 6 will be shifted to Feb 10, a Saturday.
“The governor will address the House on the first day. On the next day there will be supplementary demands and discussion. The PM is coming on Feb 6 and the business for that day will be taken up on Feb 10. There are about 318 starred questions,” said speaker Ramesh Tawadkar.
There are only seven MLAs in the opposition and they have sought sufficient time from the speaker to raise issues concerning the state.
“There is hardly any time for the MLAs to present their case. The next session will be taken after six months and we have asked that the next session should be for at least 30 days.Unitedly we have discussed our strategy and we will show the irregularities and illegalities of this government,” said opposition leader Yuri Alemao.
GFP MLA Vijai Sardesai said that department heads should be punished for breach of privilege if responses, copies of bills and other official documents are not given to opposition MLAs at least 48 hours before being introduced in the House.
“The head of department should be held in breach of privilege. The chief secretary has taken responsibility for this,” said Sardesai.
While the opposition MLAs said that they want to corner the Pramod Sawant government, a clear rift has emerged in the opposition camp with Sardesai and Aldona MLA Carlos Ferreira seemingly at odds with the remaining opposition MLAs.
“You either be in the opposition or in the ruling. You cannot be on the fence. We are vociferously going to fight. Whether it was a political strategy also, I don’t know,” said Alemao. Tawadkar said that the opposition is asking lengthy questions and seeking voluminous data, which is why there is a delay in providing responses.
“The opposition has conveyed to the speaker that the number of unstarred questions should be increased from 15 to 25 and the limit of only 5 year data being provided should be removed. We feel that this is to protect the Congress MLAs who have joined BJP. The information is meant to help the government make good policies and laws. This has not been resolved,” said Sardesai.