A month-long Budget Session of the 14th Gujarat Vidhan Sabha, the first after its election in December 2017, commenced amid raucous scenes here on Monday.
Finance Minister Nitin Patel will table the State Budget for 2018-19 in the House on Tuesday.
The first day of the Session saw sloganeering and adjournments with the Opposition MLAs trooping into the well of the House, forcing Governor O P Kohli to shorten his speech, which was later deemed read.
The House also formally elected its new Speaker, Rajendra Trivedi, who represents Vadodara in the Vidhan Sabha..
Earlier, the Governor inaugurated the reconstructed Assembly building, amid elaborate rituals of a Puja and a havan.
Raising slogans, Congress MLAs demanded resignation of Chief Minister Vijay Rupani over a range of issues, including immolation of Dalit activist Bhanubhai Vankar, water shortage in the Narmada River and agrarian issues.
The Budget Session, which will run until March 28, is likely to clear around half-a-dozen bills.
The ruling BJP with its reduced number of 99 legislators is facing a resurgent Congress with 77 MLAs with vocal young leaders Paresh Dhanani, Leader of the Opposition, and others like Alpesh Thakore and Independent MLA Jignesh Mewani targeting the ruling party.
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.