Kerala budget to be presented on February 5; Details

The Kerala budget session of the 15th state assembly will be held on February 5. The state budget will be presented by Finance Minister K N Balagopal.

Thiruvananthapuram: The first assembly session of the Kerala legislature this year will begin on January 25. Governor Arif Mohammed Khan will begin the session with the policy address amid the tussle with the state government and the state budget will be presented on February 5. Finance Minister KN Balagopal is scheduled to present the budget, and a 14-member expert group has already been appointed by the government to oversee its drafting. In a previous letter, Balagopal requested that each MLA provide a list of twenty projects that they would want to see carried out in their respective constituencies.

January 29-31: A vote of thanks debate on the Governor's policy address

February 1 2: Consideration of new Bills

February 5: Budget session

February 6-11 and 15-25: No assembly sessions

February 26: Assembly resumes

March 1: Various bills will be introduced in the Assembly

March 27: Conclusion of the assembly session

At the same time, it is sure that the Opposition will raise controversies that led to the arrest of Youth Congress state president Rahul Mamkootathil, the protests, conflicts, financial crisis and the Nava Kerala Sadas.  The ongoing war of words between the Chief Minister and the Leader of the Opposition is expected to intensify when it reaches the House.

The upcoming assembly session would be the first to be conducted after the recent cabinet reshuffle in which KB Ganesh Kumar and Kadannappalli Ramachandran took charge as Minister for Transport and Minister for registration, museum and archaeology respectively. With Lok Sabha elections around the corner, there is an opportunity to win applause, but the fact that the state government does not have enough money even for basic needs is a big setback.