New Delhi: Starting this Friday, the treasury and opposition benches in the Delhi Assembly will engage in heated debate over the state budget, with the ruling AAP targeting LG V K Saxena and the Centre over the arrest of Manish Sisodia and the BJP bringing a no-confidence motion against the Arvind Kejriwal government.
The budget will be presented on March 21, and the session will begin with an address by the lieutenant governor (LG), according to officials.
A prominent Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader has stated that the detention of former deputy chief minister Sisodia and the lieutenant governor's interference with the elected government's duties will be discussed during the session.
“The party will also raise the issue of the LG being involved in an incident with noted social activist Medha Patkar in 2002. We will also raise the issue of misuse of CBI and ED by the BJP-ruled Centre and the LG’s interference in government functioning,” he said.
Another senior functionary of the AAP said, “The misuse of CBI and ED by the Centre is the biggest issue. The world’s best education minister, Manish Sisodia, has been put behind bars in a false case. This is the biggest issue of Delhi.” Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said in a statement that the BJP will bring a no-confidence motion against the Arvind Kejriwal government over its involvement in “corruption”.
Given that two of Kejriwal's ministers are currently behind bars and the government has been accused of "scams" involving liquor policy, classroom construction, electricity subsidy, and snooping by its Feedback Unit, BJP MLAs have issued a joint statement saying they will "corner" the Kejriwal government.
“In such a situation, this government has no moral or constitutional right to be in office and a no-confidence motion is being brought against the government,” it said.
Bidhuri stated that the budget session has been called for only five days, and that only two of those days will have question hour.
“This is like attacking the rights of the legislators and this government is continuously robbing the rights of the legislators,” he alleged.
He claimed the BJP will push for a 10-day session extension.
All issues should be examined, he added, so that the truth may be presented to the public. The BJP MLAs have given notices to discuss the critical problems of Delhi in the Assembly.
He predicted that opposition MLAs would bring up issues including corruption, air pollution, drinking water problem, collapse of the transport system, lack of new schools and colleges, shortage of teachers, irregularities in mohalla clinics, and contamination of the Yamuna.
The session, according to the minister of Delhi, Saurabh Bharadwaj, would centre on making Delhi a progressive, environmentally responsible, and forward-thinking metropolis.
“There will be more focus on providing funds for sanitation, cleaning garbage mountains, making world class infrastructure in Delhi, making it development oriented in terms of good transport, making well connected network and bringing more electric buses.” Kailash Gahlot, who replaced Manish Sisodia as finance minister after Sisodia's arrest by the CBI in connection with an alleged liquor policy scam, will deliver the yearly budget for 2023-2024.—Input From Agen