The gloves are off and the initial bonhomie has petered out.
A belligerent, though divided, Opposition is preparing to corner the Akhilesh Yadav government on various issues in the winter session of the UP assembly that begins on Friday.
Though the session will begin from Friday, it will adjourn after paying tributes to sports minister Kameshwar Upadhyay who died in October. The session will effectively begin from November 26.
While the BSP is waiting to put the state government in the dock on the issue of deteriorating law and order situation and the growing number of communal clashes, the BJP will raise the issue of delay in announcement of cane support price.
“We maintained a silence till now because we wanted to give six months time to this government but now the grace period has lapsed and the honeymoon has ended. The chief minister will have to face flak on a number of issues including the poor law and order situation, communal disturbances, government’s protection to corrupt bureaucrats and the lawlessness of SP workers,” said leader of opposition and BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya.
The BJP also has announced its plans to stall the proceedings of the house if the government fails to announce an adequate hike in the support price for cane growers.
State BJP president and senior legislator, Dr Laxmikant Bajpai, said on Thursday that there was no use of Assembly being allowed to function normally if the state government remained unconcerned about the sugarcane farmers who have been waiting for the declaration of support price for the sugarcane.
Meanwhile, UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, who is also the finance minister, will seek his first supplementary budget of around `5,000 crore to fund various new welfare schemes in the Winter Session of the UP Assembly.
The supplementary grants will be tabled on November 26 and put up for voice vote on November 27.
According to Mr Pradeep Dubey, principal secretary of the Vidhan Sabha, during the working four-day session, the government is likely to table bills related to reduction of term of chairmen and presidents of various cooperatives and other and re-christening of the medical college in the city as King George Medical College.