Odisha Assembly budget session likely to be stormy

The budget session of Odisha Assembly, which will commence here on Friday, is likely to be

stormy with both the ruling and opposition parties formulating strategies on Thursday for raising issues in the House.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, also the leader of the BJD legislature party, said, "The government is ready to face

the Assembly and discussions on any issue." Governor Ganeshi Lal is scheduled to address the

members of the House on the first day of the budget session while finance minister Niranjan Pujari will present the annual

budget for the fiscal on February 18. The BJD legislature, during a party meeting, resolved

to raise issues like reduced allocation for railway infrastructure, less share in central tax among other matters.

Leader of the Opposition, Pradipta Kumar Naik of the BJP said his party will raise issues like alleged scams in the

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, deteriorating law and order situation, growing atrocities against women and children,

drinking water crisis and lack of doctors in hospitals across the state.

Congress legislature party leader Narasingha Mishra said, "There is absolutely no law and order in the state.

Incidents of murders, rapes and other crimes are on the rise. We will raise these issues in the House."

Congress members will raise the issue of bonhomie between the ruling BJD and the opposition BJP in the House,

party sources said. Speaker Surjya Narayan Patro, during an all-party

meeting, urged the members to ensure healthy debates in the House.

There will be 31 working days in the two phases of the budget session.

The first phase will be held from February 14 to 26, while the second one will commence on March 11 and continue

till April 9, a notification issued by the Assembly secretariat said.