The brief farewell session of the 16th Uttar Pradesh Assembly would commence here from Wednesday. The hardship caused to the common people and the farmers by the demonetisation of the high value currency notes is likely to dominate the proceedings of the brief session. Besides the legislative business, passage of the GST bill is also likely to be on the agenda of the brief session of the assembly. The note ban issue is likely to cause storm in the state assembly as the besides the ruling Samajwadi Party, the opposition Congress and the Bahujan Samaj party will also corner the BJP on this issue on the floor of the house. The BJP is likely to counter the move by raising the law and order issue. The Assembly could also witness a heated debate on the issue of minorities between the ruling SP and the BSP. The Congress is likely to be sympathetic towards the SP as it is likely to enter into pre poll alliance with the Samajwadi party.
The session is likely to have two sittings. During the session the state government would present the legislative business which includes the second supplementary grants for the current fiscal 2016-17 and vote-on-accounts for the first four months for the next financial year 2017-18.
On the eve of the brief session the state assembly Speaker convened an all-party meeting where leaders from all the parties participated. The business advisory committee of the state assembly also met here on Tuesday to finalise the agenda of the brief session. The agenda of the session as per the assembly secretariat and also approved by the business advisory committee is only of two days, the session could be extended.
On the first day, both the supplementary and the vote-on accounts would be tabled in both the houses of the legislature. On Wednesday the house will adjourn after paying condolences to the former chief minister Ram Naresh Yadav who recently passed away. The financial bills are likely to be adopted by the house on Thursday. The government has sought the second supplementary to meet the additional burden caused by the implementation of the seventh pay commission recommendations for the state employees, teachers of state run primary and secondary schools and teachers of the government aided colleges. Along with the salary, the pension of the retired employees has also been revised as per the pay commission recommendations.
Assembly Speaker Mata Prasad Pandey said here that as it is the last session of this 16th assembly hence all the members should extend their full cooperation in smooth and peaceful conduct of the proceedings of the house. “We don’t expect any ruckus during the session,” he said.
like the previous 15th assembly the terms of the present 16th assembly passed without having elected a deputy Speaker. As per tradition a member of the opposition party is elected to the post. The previous BSP was not interested since the post would have gone to its arch rival Samajawadi party. The present ruling party paid back in same coin as the post would have gone to the BSP.
Meanwhile, leader of the opposition Gaya Charan Dinker said that his party would raise the peoples’ issue during the farewell session. “We will play the role of an opposition party and our party is all set to form the next government in UP,” he claimed.
BJP leader Suresh Kumar Khanna said that the party was ready to debate on the issue demonetisation in the House. He said his party would also raise the issues highlighting the failure of the SP government besides how the Chief Minister was inaugurating the incomplete projects ahead of the elections.
Congress leader Pradeep Mathur said that his party will raise the demonetisation issue and how the poor and rural people engaged in various professions of informal economy have been ruined by the ban of currency. The Parliamentary Affairs Minister Azam Khan said the government is ready to hold debate on all the issues, but it’s the responsibility of the opposition parties to ensure the smooth conduct of the proceedings of the house.