NEW DELHI: The budget session of parliament was adjourned sine die on Thursday, two days before schedule, amid protests by opposition parties over the government “avoiding” discussions on price rise, even as the government maintained that it was ready to conclude the session as per schedule but curtailed it on the request of opposition leaders, including from Congress.
“The session, which was originally scheduled to have sittings till April 8, was curtailed due to the demand of leaders of various political parties, mainly in the opposition,” parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi told reporters. The session that commenced on January 31 was adjourned sine die on Thursday morning.
The minister said the suggestion to curtail the session came last week from opposition members in the Rajya Sabha. He conveyed the same to opposition leaders in the Lok Sabha in the presence of Speaker Om Birla, said Joshi.
Joshi said Congress leader Jairam Ramesh himself was one of the opposition leaders, who had the requested adjournment of the House on April 7, saying that Ram Navami was approaching and that many MPs will have to go to their native places. “Congress leaders are lying as they had made the suggestion to the RS Chairman to end the session early,” he alleged.
However, Congress parliamentary leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Jairam Ramesh told reporters a press conference that the government had agreed to a discussion on rising inflation in the meeting of the business advisory committees of the two Houses, on the demand of opposition parties. The discussion, that was likely to happen over the last two days of the session, but the budget session was terminated ahead of schedule, they said.