"We will not join the budget session as we don't want to give legitimacy to the budget," Opposition Chief Whip Abdus Shahid told The Daily Star yesterday.

The AL deputies however are in a dilemma as the party high command is yet to give any directives to them whether to join the 17th session of the House slated to begin on June 7.

AL General Secretary Abdul Jalil however told journalists yesterday that a final decision on the budget session would be taken at a meeting of the party's parliamentary wing prior to the session.

The main opposition that returned to the House in May last year ending an 11-month boycott again started keeping off parliament proceedings from the 15th session this year.

They boycotted the 15th session in protest against the speaker's refusal to adjourn the session after adopting an obituary reference on former finance minister and AL lawmaker Shah AMS Kibria.

The party first joined the present parliament on June 24, 2002, after an eight-month boycott protesting what it said was mass rigging in the October 2001 general elections that sent the BNP-Jamaat-led coalition to power.

The AL lawmakers stormed out of the House on June 25 in 2003 after a minister cast aspersions on Opposition Leader Sheikh Hasina.

Sources said the boycott this time might continue for long as there is no risk of loss of membership of AL lawmakers in months due to absence from parliament proceedings. The constitution provides that membership of a lawmaker will be cancelled if he is absent from the House for 90 consecutive working days.

Parliament secretariat sources said the AL chief's membership will be in danger only after her absence for at least 49 working days. Among the AL deputies, Sheikh Hasina has the highest number of absence from House proceedings.