As part of floor management to counter the opposition during the budget session, a meeting of the ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) was held here today.
The 10-day budget session of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly will begin from Friday.
Chaired by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, the MDA meeting was attended by MLAs of all constituents of the ruling alliance.
The five rebel Congress MLAs led by Ampareen Lyngdoh also took part at the MDA meeting.
Since the five MLAs have decided to be part of the government, they are expected to sit in the treasury bench of the Assembly during the session.
Lyngdoh had yesterday said that the final decision by the five MLAs whether to remain in the Congress or leave the party will be taken after the budget session.
It may be mentioned that after the joining of the five Congress MLAs with the MDA, the strength of the ruling alliance in the 60-member Assembly has gone up to 48.
Meanwhile, the 12-member Trinamool Congress which is the only opposition party in the Assembly is geared up to take on the government on many issues.
Illegal coal mining, developmental issues, plight of farmers and teachers are on the agenda of the opposition during the session.
As per the calendar, there will be 10 working days of the session. Of this, seven days have been allotted for government business and three days for private members’ business.
On March 4, the first day of the budget session, Governor Satya Pal Malik will address the Assembly. On the same day, government bills will be tabled as also the supplementary demands for grants and supplementary appropriation for 2021-22.
On March 7, the House will debate on the Governor’s address. On March 8 which was fixed for private member’s business, there will be tabling of motions and resolutions.
On March 9, there will be debate on the Governor’s address upto 12 noon. It will be followed by the reply of Chief Minister Conrad Sangma to the debate. Later, the budget estimates for 2022-23 will be presented by the chief minister.
On March 10, there will be private members’ business. On March 11, there will be voting on the supplementary demands for grants, introduction and passing of Meghalaya Appropriation (No 1) Bill, 2022 and general discussion on the budget.
On March 14, there will be general discussion on the budget and reply by the chief minister to the general discussion on the budget.
On March 15, there will be private members’ business. On March 16, the House will vote on the demands for grants.
On March 17, the final day of the session, there will be voting on demands for grants, introduction and passing of the Meghalaya Appropriation Bill (No II), 2022, consideration and passing of government bills.
