Budget Session: Oppn demands debates on various issues—govt says in next session
At the meeting of the floor leaders of the parties in Parliament on January 30, a day before the last Budget Session—which is also the last session—of the 17th Lok Sabha starts, the Opposition parties demanded debates on unemployment, high inflation, the agrarian crisis and violence-hit Manipur.
However, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, addressing reporters after the meeting, said that “since this is the last session of the present Lok Sabha, we have said we will give them an opportunity in the next session”.
The wording of the reply apparently assumes that the NDA will return to power.
The meeting took place at the Parliament House complex and was chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
Sudip Bandyopadhyay, leader of the Trinamool Congress in the Lok Sabha, urged the Finance Minister to include the pending dues to Bengal in the Interim Budget, expressing concern over Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee having to resort to a dharna to demand timely allocation of Central dues to the state.
The chief minister has called a dharna in Kolkata over the dues against the rural jobs and rural housing schemes from February 2, giving the Union government time till February 1 to clear all the dues.
ST Hassan, leader of the Samajwadi Party in the Lok Sabha, called for measures to strengthen the Places of Worship Act, which freezes the status of religious places as of August 15, 1947, prohibiting their conversion while ensuring the maintenance of their religious character.
This plea comes in the background of demands to hand over the Gyanvapi Mosque in Varanasi to the Hindu community and the removal of the Shahi Idgah in Mathura over claims that it was built after the destruction of a temple at a place known as the ‘Krishna Janmabhoomi’.
Pramod Tiwari, deputy leader of the Congress in the Rajya Sabha, representing the Leader of the Opposition in the house, Mallikarjun Kharge, raised concerns about the “violent attack” on the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi in Assam and the restrictions imposed by the state government.
Leaders such as Sharad Pawar from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Ram Nath Thakur from the JD(U), and Jayadev Galla from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) were present at the meeting in the Parliament House complex.
