NEW DELHI: With the logjam in Parliament showing no signs of ending , Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is set to order a guillotine on Thursday, a procedure that allows the budget to be put to vote without discussion, following which the lower house is likely to take up the finance bill.
Lok Sabha will take up the appropriation bill, which authorises government spending, on Thursday after clearing the demands of grants of various ministries, sources said.
Asked about curtailment of the session, an official said that there was no discussion on the matter so far but did not rule out the possibility after the passage of the the finance bill as no business is taking place in the house. Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to present the appropriation bill at 6pm on Thursday but the timing may be reviewed in view of the stalemate in the House.
The first sign that the government may opt to “guillotine” the budgets came on Tuesday when Lok Sabha cleared the J&K budget without any discussion.
The Centre has to secure Lok Sabha’s approval for the budget in this session.
Both Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar had convened a meeting of floor leaders on Tuesday but a truce could not happen as BJP as well as Congress-led opposition parties refused to drop their respective demands.