LUCKNOW, Feb. 7 -- Uttar Pradesh assembly speaker Satish Mahana on Friday said he intends the sessions of the House to run for a total of over 30 days this year.

His assertion comes days ahead of the state assembly's budget session which will span 12 days from February 9 to 20.

The move is also in line with a resolution moved by Mahana and adopted at the 86th All India Presiding Officers' Conference that gave a call "to create a consensus among all political parties" to increase the number of sittings of state legislative bodies to a minimum of 30 in a year. The conference was held in Lucknow between January 19 and 21.

The last time the UP assembly met for 30 or more days in a year was in 2013, according to a scrutiny of the available ...