Jaitley in London, Oppn refuses to discuss Budget

The opposition, led by the Congress, forced the discussion on the Union Budget in Lok Sabha to be deferred till Monday, refusing to let it take place in the absence of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

As per the listed business, the discussion on the 2015-16 Union Budget was to be initiated at noon, but as Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha started to speak, Congress members led by Mallikarjun Kharge began questioning the absence of Jaitley. Raising the issue, Congress MP K C Venugopal said the finance minister should be present when the debate on the budget is being initiated.

As Congress president Sonia Gandhi urged her party MP s to oppose the government’s move to initiate the discussion in Jaitley’s absence, several of them stormed to the well of the House shouting slogans. The Congress was joined by the Left parties, RJD and the Samajwadi Party. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said Jaitley has gone to London for on an “official visit” for the unveiling of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi on the UK government’s invite after taking permission from the Speaker. Naidu said MoS, Finance, will attend to the financial business in his absence.

“The finance minister has given me a letter. Shri Jayant Sinha is attending to the financial business in the House now,” Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said.

Though the House was adjourned for 15 minutes amid chaos, the issue continued to cause an uproar after it reassembled with the opposition refusing to relent. Kharge insisted that when they agreed to a discussion on the Budget on Friday, they were not informed it would be in the absence of Jaitley. Naidu, meanwhile, sought to resolve the issue by suggesting that if Congress MPs insisted on speaking in Jaitley’s presence, they could do so on Monday and other parties could begin first.

While Mahajan endorsed his proposal and repeatedly Sinha’s presence was adequate, other parties such as the TMC and the BJD joined ranks with the Congress and refused to speak, saying it was the prerogative of the largest opposition party to speak first. Congress leaders insisted the presence of the finance minister was a matter of “tradition”, while the government said there has been prior precedence in this respect.

E Ahamed of IUML said it would be a “loss of prestige” for the House if the debate is held in Jaitley’s absence as the Budget is the most important work carried out by Parliament. P Karunakarn of the CPM, too, said Jaitley’s presence was a must. Eventually, the debate had to be deferred till Monday.

In his opening remarks, Sinha said the Budget for 2015-16 had something for all sections of society and reflected the government’s thinking of ‘Sabka saath, sabka vikaas’.

Source:: Indian Express