Delhi: Members of Parliament attend all-party meeting ahead of Budget Session

All-party meeting ahead of the Budget session of Parliament, in New Delhi on Tuesday. Pic/PTI

Members of Parliament (MP) of various parties on Tuesday attended an all-party meeting convened by the government ahead of the Budget session of Parliament. Defence Minister and Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha, Rajnath Singh, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and his deputy Arjun Ram Meghwal represented the government at the meeting.

MPs from political parties like Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena, DMK, Samajwadi Party, JD(U), TDP and Congress were present. Congress MP Pramod Tiwari, who represented the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, said he raised the issue of the "violent attack" on the Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi in Assam and the state government's curbs on it, news wire PTI reported.

Othe MPs like Congress' K Suresh, TMC's Sudip Bandopadhyay, DMK's T R Baalu, Shiv Sena's Rahul Shewale, Samajwadi Party's S T Hasan, JD(U)'s Ram Nath Thakur and TDP's Jayadev Galla were among the leaders present at the meeting at the Parliament House complex.

"An "unwritten dictatorship" is prevailing in the country and accused the central government of misusing probe agencies such as the CBI and the ED to target opposition leaders such as Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad", the Congress MP told the reporters.

It is a customary practice that before every session a meeting as leaders of different parties meet and highlight the issues they want to raise in parliament. The government offers them a glimpse into its agenda and seeks their cooperation.

This budget session will be a short one, starting from January 31 and February 9 and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will table an interim budget ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. The new government will present the full-fledged budget.

The interim budget typically takes care of the fiscal needs of the intervening period until a government is formed after the Lok Sabha polls. Nirmala Sitharaman will present the interim union budget on Thursday.

The session will commence with the address of President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday and subject to the exigencies of government business, the session may conclude on February 9, 2024.

(With PTI inputs)