Gajendra Singh Negi/ Bharadisain The Vidhan Sabha budget session which was adjourned sine-die by the speaker Ritu Khanduri at 12:30 AM on Saturday after passage of a budget of Rs 1.11 lakh crore witnessed an intense battle of nerves between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and opposition Congress. It was clear during the entire five-day session that none of the two major political parties wanted to give a message to the electorate ahead of the crucial Vidhan Sabha elections scheduled in early part of 2027, that they are not interested in running the house for a longer duration. In the run-up to the budget session, the Congress party accused the government of trying to run away from its constitutional responsibilities. When the government announced its plan to hold a session for five days with the scheduled tabling of the budget for 2026-27 on the very first day, the Congress leaders cried foul. They said that the decision to table the budget on the first day of the session-which is generally reserved only for the governor’s address-is against parliamentary traditions and the Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha Work Execution Regulations and claimed that the decision indicates that the government has made up its mind to hold session for only two or three days. The Congress leaders also used the statement of BJP MLA from Lansdowne Dilip Rawat in which he questioned the choice of Bharadisain located at an altitude of 2,700 metres for construction of the Vidhan Sabha building, to buttress their claim that the ruling BJP members are afraid of Gairsain and participating in discussions on issues of public concerns. Taking up the opposition gauntlet aimed at creating a perception that the government is shying away from Gairsain, chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami while speaking for vote of thanks to the governor’s address stumped the opposition by averring that he is ready for an extended session on Monday and Tuesday (March 16 and 17) as well after a two-day weekend break. He said that the government is ready for every debate and discussion and it will reply to every question posed by the opposition. After the CM’s assertion, the onus was on the opposition Congress members to send a message through their performance in the house that they are really interested in running the house and raising the issues of public concern. The leader of opposition (LoP) Yashpal Arya, Chakrata MLA Pritam Singh, Manglaur MLA Qazi Nizamuddin and deputy leader of Congress legislature party Bhuwan Kapdi teamed up to lead the opposition’s assault on the government. They tried to corner the government on the issues of corruption, black-marketing of LPG cylinders, law and order situation, deteriorating health services and natural disaster. Arya handled the floor management of the party efficiently by ensuring that the protest of the government is targeted, scathing and backed with relevant data. He also restricted the party MLAs from unnecessarily marching to the well of the house and staging short and symbolic walkouts. Arya was also able to get the support of the independent MLAs Umesh Kumar (Khanpur) and Sanjay Dobhal (Yamunotri). On the last day of the session, the Congress MLAs ensured that after discussion on the Budget, discussion on departmental budgets is done albeit for a few minutes by placing cut motions on all the departments. It resulted in a situation that on the last day, the session which started at 11 AM on Friday went till 12:30 AM on Saturday. Senior journalist Jay Singh Rawat said that the pressure of next year’s Vidhan Sabha election was clearly visible in the performance of both the ruling party and opposition during the budget session. He said that the members wanted to send a message that they are really serious on the public issues and discussion on them.
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