MP assembly's Winter session to begin from Mon; Cong holds meeting to corner BJP govt

Bhopal, Nov 30 (PTI) The Madhya Pradesh assembly's five-day Winter session will begin on Monday, on the eve of which the Congress held a meeting to discuss the strategy to put to the state's BJP government on the mat over alleged lawlessness, SIR and farm distress.

Assembly Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar on Sunday reviewed the preparations and instructed officials to ensure smooth conduct of the proceedings. The session, scheduled from December 1 to 5, will have four sittings.

The Assembly Secretariat has so far received 751 starred questions and 746 unstarred questions, totalling 1,497, officials said.

It has also received 194 notices for calling-attention motions, six adjournment motions, 14 private members' resolutions, 52 zero-hour submissions, two notices under Rule 139 and 15 petitions.

Two government bills have also been received for the seventh session of the 16th Assembly, they added.

Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar convened a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party at his residence during the day to discuss what he termed the state BJP government's failures and to frame the party's strategy for the session.

Singhar discussed with MLAs the issues they plan to raise in the House. The meeting began with a felicitation of newly appointed chief whip Sohan Valmiki.

The legislators flagged several matters, including the state's law-and-order situation, alleged irregularities and deaths linked to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, deaths of children attributed to contaminated cough syrup, as well as minimum support price concerns for crops such as maize and soybean.

They discussed what they called pressure on consumers to install smart electric meters, rising atrocities against Dalits and tribals, the issue of OBC reservation and youth employment. They decided to raise these issues strongly in the House.

Some MLAs opposed the short duration of the session.

"Corruption has peaked under the BJP government and the list of alleged scams is growing. The government is trying to suppress the Opposition's voice and divert attention from public issues by curtailing the session's length. Every Congress MLA will raise public concerns with firmness," he said.

Those present included state Congress president Jitu Patwari, deputy leader of Opposition Hemant Katare, chief whip Sohan Valmiki, senior MLAs Rajendra Kumar Singh, Bala Bachchan, Phoolsingh Baraiya, Bhawarsingh Shekhawat, Arif Masood, Chanda Gaur, among others. PTI LAL BNM