As an united Opposition on Friday forced the Government to defer the discussion on Union Budget to Monday citing the absence of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley from the House, the BJP condemned the Congress for “disregarding rules” and not accepting Speaker Sumitra Mahajan’s ruling on the issue. The ruling party accused the Congress of being “confused” and “derailed”, having “lost sight” and running away from a debate in the House.
The Opposition, led by the Congress, wanted the presence of Jaitley in the House and refused to accept Minister of State (MoS) for Finance Jayant Sinha taking his senior’s place in the House. Amidst an uproar, the House was adjourned twice on the issue as the Speaker said that the Finance Minister was in london for unveiling of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue and until his return on Monday, the Opposition could hear out Sinha in the House. But the Opposition did not agree to the suggestion.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu sought that the discussion could be initiated by any other Opposition party and the Congress could speak on the General Budget on Monday. Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge angrily rejected the proposal saying, “It is like killing the democracy”. Kharge said his party did not know that the Union Finance Minister was not in the country.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi was seen asking party MPs to oppose the Government’s contention that the debate should be allowed to start. TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee insisted that it would be proper for the main Opposition party- the Congress- to begin the discussion on the Budget. The TMC member, however, said he was informed that the Minister was on a visit abroad. BJD also did not back the proposal that some other Opposition party should start the discussion. BJD member Tathagat Satpathy said his party would favour a debate only if it was not considered a “precedent”.
Naidu repeatedly quoted rules from the book saying any Minister could represent any in the Council of Minister and Sinha was an MoS (Finance). He said even the Parliament Secretary could represent the Minister. The Speaker said Sinha has been authorised by Jaitley to start the debate and take notes during the debate. The stalemate continued until the discussion was deferred for Monday.
“What the Congress has done today is absolutely wrong. We as a party condemn it,” Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said later at a press conference. Another Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy lamented that this is the first time in the history of Parliament that an important discussion had to be postponed. He accused the Congress of violating democratic values and disregarding the Speaker’s decision.
“The Congress is trying to create hurdles in the functioning of Parliament. This has never happened in the history of Parliament. We are sad at the way the proceedings were disrupted in utter disregard to the Speaker’s ruling. It is unfortunate. We regret that an important discussion had to be postponed and democratic values were violated,” Rudy said.
Javadekar said the Congress was devoid of issues and hoped better sense prevails upon it. To support their contentions, the two Ministers cited a ruling from the Speaker in lok Sabha on March 31, 1958, where the Speaker had given a ruling that any Cabinet Minister can reply to a discussion on the Budget. The House was to take up the discussion at noon according to the listed business.