Three main opposition parties - the Biju Janta Dal (BJD), Shiv Sena, and the Samajwadi Party - have rejected the Trinamool Congress' demand for adjournment of the Parliament session on account of the upcoming assembly elections in five states.
Dismissing the request, BJD's floor leader Prasanna Acharya said: "Elections are being held in five states, not all over the country. This is the budget session of Parliament, it is very important."
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"The budget has to be discussed in the house so I don't think this session should be outrightly closed because constitutional requirements have to be performed. I don't see any logic in postponing the session due to elections," he added.
Shivsena Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi told news agency ANI, "Budget session has been decided only after consultation with all these parties. I believe that the Chairman is competent enough to make a decision."
"The session may not be postponed but it could be curtailed. The winter session was postponed in name of Covid-19 because a discussion was not wanted in the house. So there is a lot of genuine demand here that elections are going on in the states. If the presence of everyone is necessary, a decision should be taken keeping that in mind," she added.
Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha MP Ram Gopal Yadav told ANI that he did not agree with the request.
TMC's request
Earlier in the day, TMC MPs Derek O'Brien and Sudip Bandyopadhyay urged Chairman Vice President Venkaiah Naidu to adjourn the Budget session of Parliament.
Floor Leader of TMC parliamentary party in Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, wrote to the speaker, stating that it will be difficult for the leaders of his party to attend the session with the polls approaching.
"As you know that the Election Commission of India has announced the state assembly election 2021 for five states of the country, including West Bengal, for which political campaigning has already been started in full swing," wrote Bandyopadhyay.
"It will be difficult for the members of the parliament representing All India Trinamool Congress Party of this state to be present in the house during the ensuing session of Lok Sabha," he added.
Similarly, Derek O'Brien, leader of TMC parliamentary party in Rajya Sabha wrote to the chairman of the upper house to urge for the adjournment of the session.
He also included two precedents where the session was adjourned due to assembly polls in the state.
"The 22nd session which commenced on 21 February 2011 was scheduled to conclude on 21 April 2011. However, due to upcoming state assembly elections in five states i.e., Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, the house was adjourned sine die on 25 March 2011," wrote Derek.
The second part of the Budget session of Parliament resumed on Monday with all Covid-19 precautionary measures in place.
The Rajya Sabha will function from 9 am to 2 pm while Lok Sabha will function between 4 pm and 10 pm. The second part of the session will conclude on 8 April, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla had informed.
The Budget session of Parliament, which commenced with the address of President Ram Nath Kovind on 29 January, concluded on 29 February. The Union budget was tabled in the Parliament by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on 1 February.
With inputs from agencies.
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