Haryana Assembly's Budget session to begin on February 20

Chandigarh: The Budget session of the Haryana Assembly will begin on Tuesday.

The session -- the year's first -- will begin with the governor's address. Later, there will be general discussion in the House on the address.

According to the tentative schedule, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who also holds the finance portfolio, will present the state's budget on Friday.

With assembly polls due later this year, Khattar -- who will present the last budget of his second term -- had recently told reporters that the focus will be on welfare for all sections of society.

Sectors such as health care, education, rural development and environment will be in focus, he had said.

Meanwhile, the opposition Congress is gearing up to take on the BJP-JJP alliance on a host of issues.

The party is likely to raise the issue of the farmers' protest as thousands of protesting farmers continue to camp at the Shambhu and Khanauri points of the Punjab-Haryana border to press for their demands.

Leader of Opposition in the Haryana Assembly Bhupinder Singh Hooda accused the Khattar government of having failed on all fronts and had recently said the Congress would bring a no-confidence motion during the session.

The former chief minister has said his party would raise several issues, including alleged scams under the BJP-JJP government.

"The Congress will also seek answers from the government on issues such as rising unemployment in the state, irregularities in skill employment corporation, sending youths to the war zone in Israel, giving priority to outsiders in Haryana's recruitment, recruitment scams," he had said.

The Congress will raise issues such as the state's "increasing" debt, "rising" drug abuse, farmers' plight and "deteriorating" law-and-order situation, he had further mentioned.

The Congress had also brought a motion of no confidence against the BJP-JJP government three years ago but it was defeated.

Khattar referred to the previous no-confidence motion, saying he had challenged the opposition that they must table such a motion during every session so that they can hear about the work done by his government.

Otherwise, they just speak without listening, he had said.

If the Congress brings a no-confidence motion again, they will be compelled to hear about the works done by the government, Khattar had added.

The BJP has 41 MLAs in the 90-member House while its alliance partner the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) has 10.

Six of the seven Independent members in the House support the BJP, which also enjoys the support of lone Haryana Lokhit Party MLA Gopal Kanda.

The main opposition the Congress has 30 MLAs while the Indian National Lok Dal has one.