Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress on Friday issued a three-line whip to their Lok Sabha MPs, directing them to be present in the House from March 9 to 11 as the second phase of the Budget Session begins.The second leg of the session will run from March 9 to April 2. The House is likely to take up opposition’s notice seeking Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla‘s removal from office, news agency PTI reported.The first phase of the Budget Session ended on February 13 and was marked by heated exchanges over the India-US interim trade deal and the controversy surrounding the unpublished memoir of former Army chief Manoj Mukund Naravane.
The Budget Session began on January 28 with President Droupadi Murmu addressing a joint sitting of both Houses. The session is scheduled for 30 sittings over 65 days and will conclude on April 2. The recess period allows parliamentary standing committees to examine the Demands for Grants of various ministries.During the first phase, Parliament mainly discussed the Union Budget for 2026-27 and the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha on February 1, marking her ninth consecutive budget.The House also saw sharp exchanges when leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi attempted to cite excerpts from Naravane’s unpublished memoir during the debate on the Motion of Thanks, drawing strong objections from NDA MPs who argued that an unpublished work cannot be quoted in Parliament.Amid the uproar, eight opposition MPs were suspended for the remainder of the session for violating House rules and throwing papers at the Chair following protests over references to the 2020 eastern Ladakh standoff with China.Despite repeated disruptions and sloganeering by opposition members, the Lok Sabha on February 5 passed the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address without the customary reply from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Later, the Congress submitted a notice for a no-confidence motion against Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. In response, Birla said on moral grounds that he would not preside over proceedings until the motion is disposed of.Meanwhile, polling for the biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha to fill 37 seats across 10 states is scheduled for March 16, with counting of votes to take place the same day at 5 pm. The last date for filing nominations was Thursday, scrutiny is underway, and candidates can withdraw nominations until March 9.
