Chennai: The Budget session of the State Assembly will begin on Monday, February 12, with the Governor’s Address at 10 am in the Assembly Hall inside the State Secretariat building and the State Budget for the year 2024-25 will be presented the next Monday, February 19, at 10 am.Making the announcement on Thursday, Assembly secretary K Srinivasan said that the demands for grants for 2024-25 would be made in the House on Tuesday, February 20, and demands for grants for additional expenses incurred in the year 2023-24 would be on Wednesday, February 21.Speaker M Appavu, addressing the media on the Budget session, said that the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of the Assembly would meet after the Governor’s Address and decide on the agenda for the session and decide on its duration.When newsmen recalled the unsavory incidents that took place in the House during the Governor’s Address in 2023, Appavu said that it would not happen again without elaborating on it.Asked about the AIADMK going to court against his decision on the seating arrangement in which the Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami and former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam were made to sit in the same two-seater sofa in the opposition benches, the Speaker said that the courts had no right to interfere in the Assembly’s business.He reiterated that his decision on the seating arrangement was final. The AIADMK, after expelling Panneerselvam who was earlier the deputy leader of the opposition, wanted the seat next to the Leader of the opposition to be allotted to R B Udhayakumar as he had been chosen as the deputy leader. But the Speaker refused to change the seat allotment made by him earlier.To a question on live telecast of the Assembly proceedings, he said that it was the DMDK founder Vijaykanth who went to court first with the demand for live telecast which the AIADMK refused to implement.Though efforts were on to telecast the proceedings live, as of now only question hour, call attention motions and passing of important resolutions could be telecast live. Soon, the entire proceedings of the House would go live on television after the necessary arrangements had been made, he said.The session is, however, likely to be stormy as the opposition parties, though not in the same alliance, are expected to raise a plethora of issues on the floor of the House. The AIADMK, which has been alleging a deterioration of law and order in the State, could possibly raise the issue, flagging the increase in incidents of crime.Similarly, the BJP might question Minister Senthil Balaji continuing in the Cabinet despite his arrest and the both the BJP and AIADMK could raise questions on the various raids by central agencies and the conviction of K Ponmudi in a corruption case.Also the AIADMK has been waiting to put the government on the matter over complaints in the distribution of Rs 6000 flood relief and the exclusion of some from the list of beneficiaries for the women’s rights assistance of Rs 1000 a month.The PMK, too, has been griping over the State government not conducting the caste census and not ensuring the 10.5 exclusive reservation for the Vanniyar community with the MBC quota was restored by taking up a legal fight.Since this would be a chance for the opposition parties to take on the ruling party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections their members could be on their feet in the floor of the Houses brimming with questions though it would be in the hands of the Speaker to deal with them properly.
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