GUWAHATI, Jan 31 � The Budget Session of the Assam Legislative Assembly, which begins tomorrow, is likely to be a stormy one as both the ruling and Opposition parties will try to gain maximum possible advantage of the session, which will be the last before the ensuing elections to the Assembly.
However, in view of the elections, the Government will only present Vote on Account for three months instead of a full Budget for the entire financial year. The session will start with the customary address by Governor JB Patnaik while Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who is also in charge of the Finance Department, will present the Vote on Account on the first day of the session itself.
The session, which will continue up to February 8, will have six working days. The Government is planning to introduce 13 Bills in the session, of which three will be new Bills. The new Bills to be introduced in the session include the Kumar Bhaskar Barma Sanskrit and Ancient Studies University Bill, Assam Urban Areas Land Control Bill and the Assam Molasses Control Bill, said Assam Assembly sources.
Meanwhile, both the ruling and Opposition parties are gearing up for the session. A meeting of the Congress Legislature Party was held this evening to discuss the party�s strategies for the Assembly session, while a meeting of the State Cabinet will be held just before the commencement of the session tomorrow morning.
The Opposition parties are planning to maintain floor coordination on the common issues to put the Government on the back foot.
Talking to The Assam Tribune, Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Prafulla Kumar Mahanta said that corruption would be one of the major issues for the Opposition. He pointed out that the Government is hoodwinking people on the financial scam in NC Hills Autonomous Council. He said that though the Chief Minister assured to entrust the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) with the responsibility of probing into all the financial irregularities, only nine specific cases were handed over to the Central agency. He said that the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has pointed out a number of major irregularities by the Government and the Opposition would strongly raise the issues in the floor of the House.
Mahanta said that on the issue of peace talks, the AGP is of the view that efforts should be made to find permanent solution to the problem of insurgency by involving all militants and the peace talks should not be treated as an election gimmick by the ruling party.
The Opposition Leader further said that price rise of all essential commodities, failure of the Government to rehabilitate flood and erosion affected people, etc, would be the other major issues for the Opposition in the Assembly session.
