The first budget session of the 13th Legislative Assembly of Himachal Pradesh will be a testing ground for ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Opposition Congress. The session begins on Tuesday and will have 17 sittings in all, till 5 April.

Since the two main parties are led by new and younger faces in the House, all eyes are on Chief Minister, Jai Ram Thakur and Congress Legislature Party leader, Mukesh Agnihotri as to how they carry forward the responsibility given to them.

CM and Mukesh Agnihotri are, however, good orators and are known for doing their homework well, the budget session would give them enough time to prove their mettle on the floor of the House as leaders.

Agnihotri will no doubt have the guidance of six-time former Congress CM, Virbhadra Singh in finalising floor strategy.

Out of 68 MLAs, 23 are first timers, majority of them in BJP. The Assembly has 68 members in all, out of which 44 are of BJP, 21 of Congress, two independents and one CPM.

Even though the BJP government has completed over two months in office, which is too little time to assess the performance. The budget proposals (2018-2019) to be presented by CM in the state Assembly on 9 March will bring to fore the ideas and intentions of the new leadership.

So far the oft-repeated statements by CM that the government may consider to simplify norms in Section 118 of the HP Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, 1972 has come in for sharp criticism by the Congress party. CLP leader, Mukesh Agnihotri has already announced that Congress will oppose any such move to relax the norms tooth and nail.

The Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) too has criticised the government’s proposal on this separately.

It is pertinent to mention that the BJP government in the past had faced flak over the issue of ‘Himachal on sale’, which was blown up by the Congress, while in Opposition.

Various issues pertaining to roads, IPH schemes and other development works will figure in the Assembly this time as per the Questions submitted by members.

“The drive in the session should be issue based so that the state and the democracy benefits. Otherwise, it dilutes public interest,” said Speaker, HP Assembly, Dr Rajeev Bindal, as he supervised last minute arrangements for the budget session.