Budget Session in UP cut short

Lucknow, March 4 The Budget Session of the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha was wrapped up abruptly on Thursday, six days ahead of the schedule, and all departmental Budgets were passed together.

The Assembly was adjourned sine die.

The opposition strongly protested at the curtailing of the session and staged a walkout.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna said that in view of the upcoming Panchayat elections, most of the Legislators wanted to go back to their constituencies.

Leader of Opposition, Ram Govind Chaudhary, later told reporters that the government had wrapped up the Budget Session because it had no moral courage to face the issues that the opposition was raising. He said that this amounted to a betrayal of the people.

Congress legislature party leader Aradhana Mishra said that the government had not even bothered to allow a debate on the Budget presented by various departments. She said that such tactics amounted to the murder of democracy.

The Budget had begun on February 18 and was scheduled to end on March 10. The opposition had been demanding an extension of the session.

( With inputs from IANS )