Jharkhand Budget Session from Feb 24, BJP skips all-party meet

Ranchi, Feb 21 (IANS) Jharkhand Assembly Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahato convened an all-party meeting on Friday to ensure the smooth conduct of the upcoming budget session, scheduled to begin on February 24. 

However, the main opposition party -- the BJP -- chose to stay away from the meeting.

With the BJP yet to elect its legislative party leader, the Speaker had extended an invitation to senior party MLA Chandreshwar Prasad Singh. However, Singh did not attend the meeting.

Addressing the leaders present, Speaker Mahato urged all parties to cooperate in ensuring a productive session. He emphasised the importance of logical, factual, and high-quality debate within the House to find meaningful solutions to public issues.

He also underlined the need for the government to provide satisfactory responses to members' queries.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, the Speaker talked about the challenges posed by the absence of a Leader of the Opposition, stating that it hampers the effective functioning of the House.

“The BJP’s failure to appoint a legislative party leader has delayed the selection of the Leader of the Opposition, creating procedural hurdles in the Assembly’s functioning,” he said.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren said the government is fully prepared for the budget session and expressed confidence that discussions would proceed constructively. “We are ready to deliberate on various issues concerning the state, and I am confident the House will function with a positive mindset,” Soren said.

The meeting was attended by Finance Minister Radha Krishna Kishore, Congress Legislature Party Leader Pradeep Yadav, JDU’s Saryu Rai, and LJP’s Janardan Paswan.

Earlier, on Tuesday, the Speaker met senior state government officials to review arrangements for the session.

He directed officials to provide accurate responses to legislative queries, fulfil assurances made during proceedings, and keep the Assembly Secretariat informed.

The Speaker also stressed that senior officials from all departments should be present during the session to provide ministers with immediate, up-to-date information while responding to House queries.