Goa Legislative Assembly 5-day budget session from tomorrow

Panaji, Mar 23 (UNI) The five-day budget session of the Goa Legislative Assembly beginning here tomorrow is likely to be tempestuous with the BJP Opposition BJP bent on grilling the government on many counts.

Finance Minister Dayanand Narvekar will present the budget on March 26 and seek sanction of four-month vote-on-account budget the next day.

The government will move as many as eight bills on the very first day, besides undertaking discussion on the inconclusive debate on motion-of-thanks to the Governor's address made on January 10.

The police-drug cartel nexus in the wake of rape and murder of British teenager Scarlette Eden Keeling, bungling of information in the government text books, dwindling law and order situation, bad public distribution system are some other issues the Opposition has decided to highlight and fix the government.

The BJP had demanded a CBI probe into the Keeling episode, after the victim's mother Fiona charged Home Minister Ravi Naik and the Director General of Police B S Brar of having links with the drug barons and trying to hush the case without punishing the real culprits.

The Opposition is also likely to raise the issue of no-confidence motion it had served against speaker Pratapsinh Rane. It has already urged the Governor to invoke his powers to direct the speaker to undertake discussion on the notice, and had threatened to approach the Supreme court.

Meanwhile, the threat of scheduled tribes leader Pandurang Madkaikar to resign as Congress MLA in protest against his removal from the Cabinet recently to give room to MGP leader Ramakrishna Dhavlikar, does not make any difference to the stability of the government.

The Congress-led coalition government has a strength of 24 with Congress-18 backed by NCP-3, MGP-2 and Independent (health minister Viswajeet Rane)-1.

The BJP on the other hand, has only 14 members of its own while independent candidate and industrialist Anil Salgaocar and unattached MLA Taleigao Atanasio (Babush) Monserrate are supporting the government from outside.

It is likely that Babush, who, along with wife Jennifer and Mayor Tony Rodrigues, was thrashed by the police for attacking the Panjim headquarters police station on February 19, may create some trouble in the House demanding CBI probe into the episode.

Many of the Congress and Opposition legislators had sought a high-level probe into the episode but the government has failed to decide so far, even as Babush filed a petition in the high court here for a directive to the government for ordering a CBI probe.

UNI BM RN BDP ND1304