Chandigarh, February 19 The Haryana Assembly's Budget Session, which begins on Friday, is likely to be contentious, with the opposition preparing to challenge the BJP government on several issues, including law and order, unemployment, and farmers' welfare.
The session, which will last nearly a month, will begin with the Governor's address, and the Budget will be presented on March 2 by Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, who also holds the finance portfolio. The session will continue until March 18, with several holidays in between.
Saini has held consultations with various groups and sought suggestions from both ruling and opposition MLAs. He has stated that the Budget will be a "people-oriented" Budget aimed at fulfilling their aspirations and expectations.
Highlighting the state's economic performance, the chief minister recently said that figures released by the Planning Department on January 29 show that Haryana's GDP for 2025-26 (advance estimates) stood at Rs 13,67,769 crore, compared to Rs 12,13,951 crore in 2024-25, reflecting a growth rate of 12.67 per cent.
On Thursday, the Congress Legislature Party met here under the chairmanship of former chief minister and leader of the opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Speaking to reporters later, Hooda said that a detailed discussion was held on the issues that his party would raise during the session.
He said that the Congress would move an adjournment motion on the "deterioration" of law and order in the state and would strongly raise matters related to farmers' welfare, unemployment, old-age pensions, MGNREGA, drug abuse, the India-US trade deal, the health sector, the SYL canal, mining, and other issues, and demand answers from the government.
The Congress has alleged that candidates from outside Haryana are securing a disproportionate share of government jobs in the state, and Hooda said that the party will raise this issue in the assembly. The party has also claimed that the Haryana Public Service Commission is unable to fill all advertised positions.
Haryana Congress president Rao Narender Singh, who also attended the CLP meeting on Thursday, told reporters that the Congress has decided that its MLAs will march from the party office in Sector 9 here on February 25 and gherao the Vidhan Sabha on the issue of MGNREGA.
Hitting out at the Centre, Rao Narender said that the "abolition" of MGNREGA has affected common people and the poor.
Hooda had on Tuesday alleged that under the BJP rule, the law and order situation has deteriorated and there is an atmosphere of fear among the people. Hooda also termed the recent Indo-US trade deal "anti-farmer".
The chief minister earlier said that the opposition had no real issues to raise and were running a "shop of lies". He also said that the opposition was trying to mislead people on the India-US trade deal and asserted that traders, industrialists, and people of the state were happy with the agreement.
Meanwhile, the Indian National Lok Dal has submitted 11 Calling Attention notices on various important public interest issues, including "lack of action" on a Supreme Court order for the construction of the SYL canal, "deteriorating" law and order, thousands of vacant teaching positions in government schools, drug abuse, and severe shortage of academic and non-teaching staff in universities.
Meanwhile, a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, chaired by the Speaker, was held here on Thursday in which Chief Minister Saini and Leader of Opposition Hooda were also present.
After the BAC meeting, Hooda, while referring to the duration of the Budget Session, said that "working days are less and there are many holidays in between. The number of sittings is almost the same as before".