New Delhi: The 42-day-long Budget Session of Parliament begins on Monday and will have 28 sittings. An all-party meeting was held ahead of the Parliament session.
During this period, Railway Minister Sadanand Gowda and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present the Narendra Modi-led NDA Government’s first Railway and General Budgets on July 8 and July 10 respectively.
The Economic Survey will be released on July 9. The session will end on August 14.
Here are the highlights:
All party meet called by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu begins.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives for the all party meet.
Congress to move adjournment motion over inflation in Lok Sabha, say reports.
“We will raise the issue of inflation through an adjournment motion in Parliament today,” says Mallikarjun Kharge of Congress.
Inflation, prices of essential commodities will be an issue during the Budget Session, we will also raise incidents of communal violence and the demand for granting special status to Bihar, says Ali Anwar of JD(U).
All party meet ends.
A heated debate is expected in Parliament, as the Opposition parties are likely to take up the issue of price rise, fuel price hike and the revision of rail fares. Congress will also try and corner the government over the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board scam.
In its attempt to deal with inflation, the emphasis of the government is on the supply of cereals, pulses, onions, potatoes and tomatoes. States have been asked to identify pockets susceptible to shortage and to set up price monitoring cells.
The Congress may also push its case for the post of the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha on grounds that it has the most seats (44) in the opposition.
The Trinamool Congress and Left parties have said they will seek a discussion on inflation, internal security and federalism after the presentation of the Rail and General Budgets.
The government is also expected to make a statement in both Houses of Parliament on the plight of Indians in strife-torn Iraq.
Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Kamal Nath has been quoted by a television channel, as saying that if Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan rules against Congress on the Leader of Opposition issue, it would be right and proper for the Congress to go to the court.
He insisted that there is no rule, which says that a party cannot get Leader of Opposition status unless it has 10 per cent of the total strength of the 543-member Lok Sabha.
Nath contended that Mahajan’s decision on the issue could be flavoured by the BJP and Narendra Modi.
He was apparently responding to Minister for Parliamentary Affairs M Venkaiah Naidu’ statement in Hyderabad on Sunday that the issue of giving Leader of Opposition (LoP) status is before the Lok Sabha Speaker, and everyone must abide by the presiding officer’s decision.
