A day after the Trivendra Singh Rawat Government had patted itself on its back for running the session till midnight on June 15, the concluding day of the budget session, the leader of the opposition Indira Hridayesh announced on Saturday to boycott the meetings of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) related to the Assembly for five years, citing the haste the State Government had tabled the standing committee reports of the transfer and lokayukta bills with such tabling not figuring during the BAC meeting convened to fix the agenda of the session.
Notably, BAC comprises members of the treasury bench, the leader of the opposition and MlAs from other parties and it is convened to fix the agenda of the session. Hridayesh said that the ruling party had said nothing about the tabling of the reports pertaining to the two crucial bills during the BAC meeting. “The reports were tabled at late hours on Thursday following which the Speaker announced the House sine die, something that is in violation of the constitutional provisions. We would not take part in any future BAC meeting for the next five years to articulate our protest against the State Government trampling the norms,” she said. Though the State parliamentary affairs minister Prakash Pant tried every means to break the ice the opposition remained adamant in its decision. Observers say that in case the opposition sticks to its boycott decision it would be difficult for the ruling party to hold BAC meetings devoid of the presence of leader of the opposition.