Rajasthan Budget session likely to be stormy

JAIPUR: The assembly's Budget session, which will begin from Thursday , would be a stormy one as not only the opposition legislators but some ruling party members also were geared up to pose tough questions to the state government.

Stepping up its attack on the ruling party right before the Budget session, the Congress demanded judicial probe over the two incidents of Kota--BJP MLA Chandrakanta Meghwal's husband allegedly slapping a police officer and the fire at nearby petrol pump soon thereafter.

“The state government is trying to project the two incidents as independent of each other but these could be related,“ Congress state president Sachin Pilot said after the Congress legislative party meeting at leader of opposition Rameshwar Dudi's residence here.

“The government will try to run away from the house because of its failures but we will not let is escape,“ Dudi said. The opposition party chalked out strategies to corner the government on issues pertaining to common man, farmers, smalltime businessmen and unemployed youth.A day earlier, the ruling BJP held its legislators meeting under chief minister Vasundhara Raje planned on `unitedly' defending the government in the assembly .

The ruling party's senior legislator Ghanshyam Tiwari, who has been openly chief minister Raje, could add to the woes of government as he is believed to have sought submitted 100 questions for the Budget session.

The session will begin with Governor Kalyan Singh's address at 11 am on Thursday. Deputy Chief Whip Madan Rathore said the business advisory committee meeting would be held later in the day to decide on the busi nesses to be taken up by the house.

State Parliamentary Affairs minister Rajendra Rathore, meanwhile, said the Opposition was devoid of any genuine issue to raise in the house and was likely to disrupt the proceedings unnecessarily.

The ruling party would highlight the roll back in agriculture power tariff as its major decision for the farmers.The Jal Swavalamban Abhiyan, the `Annapurna Rasoi' for poor, the Annapurna Bhandar Yojana and other flagship schemes would be used to point out the government's works for the weaker sections.

Leader of opposition Dudi said, “Government had to bow before the farmers who were ready to gehrao the as sembly because of steep hike in agriculture power tariff.But there are other issues that are still pending, like compensations and crop insurance to farmers hit by hailstorm. We will raise all these issues,“ Dudi said.

He said the Budget announcements of 2016 were still to be implemented. “Only 25% of promises made by the BJP in its election manifesto have been fulfilled. The government's claims about fulfilling 72% promises were incorrect,“ Dudi claimed.

The Congress would be cornering the government on the issue of Special Backward Classes (SBC) quota, as the Gujjars have called a Mahapanchayat on the matter near Karauli on February 25.The SBC quota was struck down by the high court and the government failed to get a stay on it from the Supreme Court.