Preoccupation of political heavyweights with the upcoming Assembly elections in five States could see the first half of the Budget Session of Parliament beginning Tuesday, going smoothly despite the Opposition vowing to corner the Government on demonetisation and several other issues.
It is expected that after the Government presents the Union Budget on February 1, the focus will shift to the Assembly elections and big political players will resume their campaigning. Of course, the Opposition would like to raise enough issues to grab headlines to influence the polls, but given the fact that the first half of the session will come to an end on February 9, the floor manager of the Government should have a relatively easy task.
At an all-party meeting on Monday, the Opposition parties vowed to raise the demonetisation issue even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought their cooperation and hoped that Parliament would function despite differences over certain issues during election time.
The Opposition parties also put on record their differences with the Government on tabling the Union Budget on February 1, not just because of the Assembly polls, but also because the economic data of the third quarter will not be factored into the document. However, the Government defended itself by saying that the Supreme Court and Election Commission have already given their judgment in this regard and favoured presentation of the annual budget as scheduled.
After the Winter Session was washed out due to protests over demonetisation, Modi reached out to the Opposition on the eve of the Budget Session at the all-party meeting called by the Government that was attended by all major parties except for the TMC.
Modi said it (Parliament) is a ‘mahapanchayat’ which should function despite differences which may crop up during the election season.
Rejecting the Opposition’s allegations that the Budget will impact the upcoming Assembly elections, the Government said that the Budget will be presented as scheduled. “The Supreme Court and Election Commission have already given their judgment on this. The Government’s efforts will be that the Budget should benefit all and takes the country forward,” said Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will present the Budget on February 1.
leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said that the Government should not have advanced the Budget Session. Azad citied a similar situation in 2012 when the then UPA Government had postponed the Budget Session due to State Assembly elections. Azad also asked the Government to call another all-party meeting before the next part of the Budget Session.
Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia and CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury demanded that there should be discussion on demonetisation also during the first phase of the session. “We have told the Government that there should be discussion on demonetisation for two days as the people across India have suffered due to this irrational move of the Government,” Yechury told the reporters.
Yechury also said that presentation of the Budget on February 1 is “non-scientific” as it will not take into consideration the statistical data of the third quarter which comes only in mid-February.
The TMC which was not part of the all party meet expressed unhappiness over the note ban and arrest of its MPs in chit fund cases. “Trinamool MPs will not be present in Parliament on the first two days of the Budget Session in protest against demonetisation which was implemented without taking Parliament into confidence,” TMC chief whip in the lok Sabha, Kalyan Banerjee said after the TMC Parliamentary Party meeting.