Haryana Assembly's brief winter session likely to be stormy affair

The one-day Haryana Assembly winter session, which begins here on Friday, is likely to be a stormy affair, with the opposition set to corner the BJP-led government on several issues, including law and order, farmers plight and the Sutlej-Yamunal Link canal.

Opposition parties have objected to the holding of a brief session, claiming that they will not get enough time to raise issues of public importance.

However, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar told reporters here on Thursday that the session had been convened due to some important legislative business, including passage of some bills, and that the duration had been fixed after consultation with the opposition.

Due to some important legislative business including some bills, which need to be passed within a specific time-frame, the session has been convened, Khattar said.

"Many of our opposition friends had reservation when the session was to continue on December 31 (New Year's eve) as well after which its duration was decided with their consultation," he said.

Khattar said the present BJP government had started the practice of convening three sessions during a year.

When we came to power, we had said we will have at least three sessions as against the earlier practice of having them twice a year. From 2005-09, 12 sessions with 70 sittings were held and from 2009-14, 11 sessions with 56 sittings were held.

"During our four years of rule, 12 sessions with 71 sittings have been held, and we still have one year remaining," he said.

Former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said his party will raise issues pertaining to law and order, farmers plight and corruption among others.

Objecting to the short duration of the session, Hooda said, "First they convened a session for two days, which has been curtailed to a day now, which indicates that they have read the writing on the wall and decided to pack up."