CHANDIGARH, Feb. 20 -- Two months after the bitter showdown over a no-confidence motion, the Haryana assembly is set to reconvene on Friday for the lengthy Budget session with the political temperature still running high and little sign of any thaw between the ruling BJP and the Congress. Though the no-confidence motion that the principal Opposition party the Congress had moved against the chief minister Nayab Singh Saini-led BJP government was defeated by voice vote on December 19 evening, the acrimony triggered during the winter session continues to cast a long shadow. During that three-sitting winter session, the Congress had cornered the government on a raft of issues and staged noisy walk outs from the House, alleging that the chief minister was evasive and that their voice had been stifled. That bitterness of the winter session appears far from over even nine weeks later. During the intervening period, the ruling BJP and the Congress have only hardened their positions. That Congress will pick up the thread from where it left off in December became clear on Thursday after the three-hour-long Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting. The Congress made it loud and clear that it will be on the offensive and determined to put the government on the defensive. In the 90-member House, the BJP has 48 MLAs, including the Speaker. The BJP also enjoys the support of three Independents. The Congress with 37 MLAs, remains the principal Opposition and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has two MLAs. Banking on aggressive floor strategy and issue-based attacks to corner the government, at the top of Congress agenda will be the issue of law and order and cut in senior citizens' pensions. In the run up to the assembly session the Congress has been consistently raising concerns over what it describes as a rise in crime, including incidents of extortion and organised gangs. "The Congress will seek answers from the BJP government on various issues of public interest in the Assembly," CLP leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda said, adding that Congress MLAs will raise issues, including law and order, extortion, drug abuse, migration, unemployment, toll collection, sports and sportspersons, paddy scam, family identity cards and rising fertiliser prices. The Congress MLAs have submitted adjournment and calling-attention motions. The Congress has decided that its MLAs will march to the Assembly on February 24 as a mark of protest against the government on various issues. On February 25, all Congress MLAs, senior leaders, and workers will surround the Assembly to protest against changes in MNREGA, now called VB-G RAM G (Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin). Unemployment will be another major flash point with youth awaiting recruitment and government jobs. The Congress has decided to highlight delays in hiring processes and the growing dependence on contractual employment. Closely linked to this is the controversy revolving around recruitment processes by the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC). The INLD will also raise these issues, giving it wider opposition backing inside the House. INLD legislators Aditya Devi Lal and Arjun Chautala have submitted 11 calling-attention notices on issues such as SYL canal, rising crime, vacant teaching posts in government schools, alarming increase in drug abuse, a severe shortage of academic and non-academic staff in universities, old-age pension etc. Sharpening the attack against the government, CLP leader Hooda said that the "arbitrariness" of the HPSC is intolerable. " There is no state in the country that prefers outsiders over local youth for jobs. In Haryana, the situation is such that the BJP government gives 78 out of 80 posts to people from other states," Hooda said, clearly indicating that the party will go hammer and tongs after the Saini dispensation. However, for the Saini government the session will be an opportunity to defend its record, counter the opposition narrative, project good governance with stability and push through its agenda amid aggressive opposition. But with multiple hot button issues converging and the treasury benches lacking political heft to deftly tackle the old war horses of the Opposition, the Budget session proceedings are unlikely to be smooth. In all certainty, the echoes of December's confrontation will be heard again....