Govt convenes all-party meeting ahead of Budget Session of Parliament

An all-party meeting convened ahead of the Budget Session of Parliament was held at the Parliament House complex on Thursday. During the meeting, the government sought cooperation from all political parties to ensure the smooth functioning of the Parliament session. Speaking to the media after the meeting, Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Kiren Rijiju said that President Droupadi Murmu will address both Houses of Parliament on the opening day of the Budget Session on Friday. He added that, after the President’s address, an Economic Survey will be presented. He further stated that on Saturday, the Union Budget will be presented. Rijiju mentioned that during the session, discussions will be held on the President’s address, followed by discussions on the Budget. The discussions on the Budget will continue until 13th February.
The Budget Session will resume again on 10th March after a recess. He said there are 16 bills and 19 businesses already listed in the House. He also mentioned that Parliament will not function on the 5th of February as polling is scheduled in the national capital. Defence Minister and Deputy Leader of the House in Lok Sabha, Rajnath Singh, Health Minister and Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha, JP Nadda, Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Kiren Rijiju, Congress MPs Jairam Ramesh and Gaurav Gogoi, TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Samajwadi Party MP Ram Gopal Yadav; BJD MP Sasmit Patra, and DMK MP T.R. Baalu, among others, were in attendance at the meeting.
According to news agency report, at the all-party meeting,Janata Dal (United) has sought an extension in the tenure of the Joint Parliamentary Committee scrutinising the bills proposing simultaneous elections, while its another partner, LJP (Ram Vilas), has demanded a "special industrial package" for Bihar. Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) MP Arun Bharti also raised the issue related to the "piling up" of vacancies in reserved category jobs for the reason of "not fit for selection" (NFS). The government should bring a law to fill up the vacancies in a time-bound manner, Bharti added.