Bengal budget session to be stormy as BJP readies to target Trinamool over CAG report

Kolkata, Feb 5 (IANS) The Budget Session of the West Bengal Assembly starting from Monday is expected to be quite stormy as the BJP led by the leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari is gearing up to target the state government and the Trinamool Congress armed with the CAG findings on the non-submission of 'utilization certificates' by the state government related to fund utilization in various central sponsored schemes.

Party insiders said that besides the leader of the opposition, Balurghat MLA Ashok Kumar Lahiri is also expected to take a lead role in the debate. Lahiri is the former chief economic advisor to the Union government.

In that case, feel political observers, while the line of attack by the leader of the opposition will be more political in nature, the arguments from Lahiri’s side will be more on the economic and statistical angle.

The principal findings of the CAG report that the BJP’s legislative team is planning to highlight during the proceedings of the budget session starting Monday will include the non-submission of the “utilization certificates” worth Rs 1.94 lakh crore between the period from 2011 to 202, that is the period when the state government was under the Trinamool Congress rule.

While this will be a macro point of the debate, BJP insiders said, the other findings of the CAG report like extra- budgetary borrowings by the state government for sponsoring different dole schemes, among others will be the micro- points of the arguments of the BJP’s legislative team in the budget session.

Trinamool Congress, on Sunday, has already given some specific hints on what would be their counter-points to the arguments of the BJP’s legislative team. They have already described the CAG findings as “deliberately structured documents aimed at arming the opposition to create counter- narratives against the state government and the ruling dispensation”.

The session will resume from Monday and the state budget will be tabled at the floor of the House on February 8. In the following two days, there will be discussion on the state budget, the period that is expected to witness the maximum pandemonium.