After stabilising the Legislative Council by joining hands with NCP, the biggest party in the Upper House, the Devendra Fadnavis-led government is all set to extend the budget session by either a week or a fortnight.

As per the schedule announced earlier, the budget session was to come to an end by April 1. The government is exploring the possibility of extending it to April 15 but has decided to extend it at least till April 7. The agenda of the session, which had the state budget to be presented, has been done and the discussion on the budget could go on for two or three days in both the Houses this week.

The government is thinking of bringing the Kelkar Panel report which suggested ways and means to reduce the regional imbalance. In fact, the government would have an upper hand during the discussion on the Kelkar Panel report since it can present the views on development backlog in regions like Vidarbha and Marathwada which are manifesting in the form of farmers' suicides in last one decade.

When contacted, Girish Bapat, the parliamentary affairs minister, said, "We are willing to run both the Houses till April 15 and this would be discussed during the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting which will be held on Wednesday or Thursday. If all the parties don't agree to extend the session till April 15, we are determined to extend it to at least April 7."

Already on the request of the Opposition in both the Houses, the discussion on the law and order situation and that on the governor's address had been adjourned and resumed on the next day. Fadnavis has indicated by saying that when the BJP-Shiv Sena were in the Opposition, they used to sit in the House even till midnight for important discussions. Last week, Fadnavis said in the Upper House that the government is determined to complete the listed business on the agenda of this session.