NEW DELHI: The budget session of the Delhi Assembly, starting Friday, is likely to witness heated exchanges between the treasury and opposition benches, with the ruling AAP targeting LG V K Saxena and the Centre over the arrest of Manish Sisodia and the BJP bringing a no-confidence motion against the Arvind Kejriwal government. The session will start with an address by the lieutenant governor (LG) and the budget will be presented on March 21, officials said.


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A senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader said that the session will have discussions on the arrest of former deputy chief minister Sisodia and how the lieutenant governor was interfering in the works of the elected government.


"The party will also raise the issue of the LG being involved in an incident with noted social activist Medha Patkar in 2002. We will also raise the issue of misuse of CBI and ED by the BJP-ruled Centre and the LG's interference in government functioning," he said.


Another senior functionary of the AAP said, "The misuse of CBI and ED by the Centre is the biggest issue. The world's best education minister, Manish Sisodia, has been put behind bars in a false case. This is the biggest issue of Delhi."


Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said in a statement that the BJP will bring a no-confidence motion against the Arvind Kejriwal government over its involvement in "corruption".


The BJP MLAs, in a joint statement, said that they will corner the Kejriwal government as its two ministers were behind bars and it was facing allegations of "scams" involving liquor policy, classroom construction, electricity subsidy, and snooping by its Feedback Unit.


"In such a situation, this government has no moral or constitutional right to be in office and a no-confidence motion is being brought against the government," it said.


Bidhuri said the budget session has been called only for five days, out of which the provision of question hour has been kept only on two days.


"This is like attacking the rights of the legislators and this government is continuously robbing the rights of the legislators," he alleged.


The BJP will demand that the session be extended by at least 10 days, he said.


The BJP MLAs have given notices to discuss the serious problems of Delhi in the Assembly and they want that all issues should be discussed so that the truth can come before the public, he said.


Issues such as corruption, air pollution, drinking water crisis, collapse of the transport system, non-opening of new schools and colleges, lack of teachers, irregularities in mohalla clinics, and the Yamuna pollution will be raised by the opposition MLAs, he said.


Delhi minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said the session will focus on making Delhi a modern, clean and development-oriented city.


"There will be more focus on providing funds for sanitation, cleaning garbage mountains, making world class infrastructure in Delhi, making it development oriented in terms of good transport, making well connected network and bringing more electric buses."


The annual budget for 2023-24 will be presented by Kailash Gahlot who assumed the charge as finance minister after the arrest of Sisodia by the CBI in connection with an alleged liquor policy scam.