NEW DELHI, Jan 30:
The Budget Session of Parliament, the last of the present Lok Sabha, begins tomorrow with President Droupadi Murmu addressing a joint sitting of the Lower and Upper Houses, and the Government urging opposition parties to cooperate in the smooth conduct of the proceedings.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Interim Budget on February 1 ahead of the Lok Sabha elections likely to be held in April-May.
The new Government will present the full budget after it assumes office.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi told a meeting of floor leaders of political parties in Parliament that Sitharaman will also present the Budget for Jammu and Kashmir, which is under the President’s Rule.
Joshi said the main agenda of the 17th Lok Sabha’s brief session, set to conclude on February 9, was the President’s Address, presentation of the Interim Budget and the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address with a reply by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Opposition leaders raised a host of issues during the meeting of floor leaders chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
Congress leader K Suresh said the party would raise the issue of unemployment, high inflation, agrarian distress, and the situation in ethnic violence-hit Manipur during the session.
Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay said the Finance Minister should include the pending dues to West Bengal on account of various central schemes in the Interim Budget.
“It is unfortunate that a chief minister has to sit on a dharna to demand timely allocation of central dues to the state,” he said.
Samajwadi Party leader S T Hassan demanded steps to strengthen the Places of Worship Act that freezes the status of religious places of worship as they existed on August 15, 1947, and prohibits their conversion while ensuring the maintenance of their religious character.
Joshi said the Government did not have any legislative agenda for the Budget Session and its thrust would be on the President’s Address, debate on the Motion of Thanks, presentation of the Interim Budget and the budget for Jammu and Kashmir.
Meanwhile, 14 opposition MPs, who were suspended during the last session and their case referred to privilege committees, will return to attend Parliament’s Budget session, with Pralhad Joshi saying that the Chairs in the two Houses have agreed to the Government’s request to this effect.
Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha committees had recommended that their suspension be withdrawn after they expressed regret for their conduct during the Winter session when their relentless protests prompted the Chairs to take action.
While a total of 146 opposition MPs, 100 in Lok Sabha and the rest in Rajya Sabha, were suspended for bringing placards into the chambers and frequently disrupting Parliamentary proceedings, the transgressions by these 14 were considered more serious.
Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha had together suspended 132 MPs for the remainder of the Winter session, which ended on December 21 and had referred the case of these 14 MPs to the respective privilege committee. (PTI)
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