Bangalore:
The extended budget session of the Karnataka Legislature will begin on Thursday amid renewed dissidence in the ruling BJP by those denied ministerial berth and their threat to rock the proceedings.
The session slated to last till this month end and convened to get the nod for budget, is going to be an uphill task for ruling BJP following speculation that its dissidents might defeat the finance bills to vent their anger against the party.
The new Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar, sworn-in last week at the head of a full-fledged ministry, will have a daunting task of defending his government from opposition Congress and JDS, which will grill it on a host of issues including tardy relief work in drought-hit areas, besides keeping his flock together.
The opposition parties have geared up to attack the government on the recent revolt in BJP that culminated in a change of guard and its impact on administrative machinery at a time when the state faced unprecedented scarcity conditions due to failure of rains.
The High Court's recent rap on the government for the delay in appointing Lokayukta was also expected to be debated.
Issues such as private unaided schools declining to implement the Right to Education Act provisions, the ongoing week-long strike by schools besides Governor H R Bhardwaj comments over the BJP ministry accommodating 'tainted' persons are also expected to be raised.
The MLAs and MPs from the state will also be exercising their ballot tomorrow in the Presidential election for which the authorities have made arrangements.