Stormy Session?

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[With a host of controversial issues including Setusamudram project, Raj Thackeray's anti-north Indian statements and Indo-US nuclear deal likely to figure, the Budget Session of Parliament beginning tomorrow is set to be a tumultuous affair. Issues of price rise, agrarian crisis as also hike in petrol prices on which Left parties have joined the opposition in attacking the government will also see the political temperatures rising, especially with a series of Assembly elections lined up in the coming months. Buoyed by recent poll victories, main Opposition BJP would be seeking to put the government on the mat on several issues including internal security and increase in terror attacks. Being a leap year, the budget will be presented on 29 February while the Railway Budget would be tabled on February 26. Addressing a budget-eve press conference here, Parliamentary Affairs Minister P.R. Dasmunsi said the Economic Survey will be tabled in Parliament a day before the General Budget. As the coming budget will be the last ahead of Lok Sabha polls next year and a series of assembly elections later this year, the Congress-led coalition is expected to go all out to keep the common man in good humour. With &quot;aam aadmi&quot; becoming the flavour ahead of the poll season, the Railway Budget is also likely to be on similar lines. President Pratibha Patil will deliver her first address to the Joint sitting of Parliament tomorrow which will outline the government's plans. Contentious legislations for reservation for women, introducing a content code for broadcasters and creating a separate Telangana state are unlikely to figure in the Budget Session in the absence of any consensus. (PTI)