Chennai: Tamil Nadu's Budget will be presented on February 8 by deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam, who holds the finance portfolio.

The Budget for 2019-20 would be presented in the House at 10 AM on Friday, an official release said.

With the Union budget bringing relief to the middle classes by pushing up the income tax threshold to Rs 5 lakh, it is expected that the state too may have some surprises in store in its annual financial statement ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a populist push in his final Budget before elections, cutting taxes for middle-class voters and giving cash grants to farmers.

The government also allocated Rs 75,000 crore a year for the cash plan for about 120 million farmers and gave taxpayer Rs 185 billion of relief in the year to March 2020, finance minister Piyush Goyal said in his Budget speech on Friday.

The first session of the Tamil Nadu Assembly for the year began on January 2 with the common address of the governor Banwarilal Purohit to the House. Later, the Opposition parties had boycotted his speech.

A gift hamper to every family (including Rs 1,000 cash component) with a ration card for the harvest festival of Pongal (in January) was among the announcements he had made.

On January 8, the House was adjourned sine die after the passage of several Bills including ones that extended the term of office of special officers of urban and rural civic bodies by another six months.