Speaker calls for smooth conduct of House at all-party meeting of Rajasthan Assembly

Jaipur, Jan 29 (PTI) Ahead of the budget session of the Rajasthan Assembly beginning January 31, Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma and leader of opposition Tikaram Jully, among others, attended an all-party meeting on Wednesday.

An Assembly spokesperson said that presiding over the meeting, Speaker Vasudev Devnani called upon all the parties to cooperate in running the House in a productive manner.

The House represents eight crore people of Rajasthan and the elected representatives must respect the public mandate through their conduct and behaviour, Devnani said.

The House runs on rules, traditions, and decorum, the speaker said, as he asked all the parties to cooperate in conducting a peaceful budget session with meaningful debates.

A consensus was reached at the meeting to have meaningful discussions and hear the governor's address in a peaceful manner by all the members of the House.

Parliamentary affairs minister Jogaram Patel, government chief whip Jogeshwar Garg, and chief whip of Congress Legislative Party Rafiq Khan were present at the meeting, among others.

The third session of the 16th Assembly of Rajasthan will begin from January 31. It will begin with the address of Governor Haribhau Bagde. The motion of thanks on the governor's address will be debated on February 3, 5 and 6. The government will reply to it on February 7.

There won't be any proceedings from February 8 to 18, and the budget will be presented on February 19.

After attending the meeting, Chief Minister Sharma appreciated the innovations, including digitalisation, effected in the House proceedings, the spokesperson said.

As per sources, the covers and upholstery of the benches in the House will now be bright pink. Earlier, it was light green. Also, iPads have been installed on the seats of the MLAs.

Jogaram Patel said after the meeting that the government will respond promptly with facts to the issues raised by the opposition during the session.

"If issues are raised as per the rules, the government will give full reply. The opposition members agreed to this during the meeting," Patel said.

Leader of opposition Jully said, "We have requested the speaker to give more time to the opposition members. The ruling party should maintain the dignity of the House. They must understand their responsibilities and cooperate in running the session properly." Taking a dig at the BJP regime, he said, "This government has done nothing for the public in the last one year. It has only closed the schemes of the previous Congress government, or renamed them." PTI AG ARI