New Delhi: The Centre on Wednesday urged the floor leaders of all parties to cooperate in the smooth functioning of the Parliament during the Budget Session, which gets underway on Wednesday. It also rejected the Opposition’s demand for discussing SIR and VB-G RAM G Act all over again saying “we cannot reverse the gear and go back”.
At an all-party meeting, convened ahead of the session on Tuesday, the Opposition also raised the issue of the legislative agenda for it not being made available in advance - especially regarding the Bills to be introduced.
The meeting was convened to discuss the Session, which would begin with the President’s Address on January 28 and would be followed with the presentation of the Economic Survey on January 29 and the presentation of the Budget on February 1 – the first time it would be presented on a Sunday.
The meeting was chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and attended among others by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha, JP Nadda, and union ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal and L Murugan.
Following the meeting, Rijiju said several suggestions were given by the floor leaders of various parties, which have been noted. He said all the parties have been requested to cooperate in the smooth running of the session. "This is the first session of the year. Normally, the list of government business is shared after the President's address. However, I am prepared to share the list; I have told officers to do it,” said Rijiju, adding that an appeal to cooperate has been made to all parties for the year’s first Parliament Session.
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However, the difference of opinion among the two sides surfaced during the meeting. The Centre rejected the Opposition’s demand for discussions on the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) or VB-GRAM G Bill, 2025, which was introduced in December 2025 to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005.
Though the legislation proposes to increase the guaranteed annual wage employment from 100 to 125 days per rural household, provides for digital governance and a 60:40 Centre-state fund-sharing pattern, the Opposition had criticised it during the Winter Session and later for putting additional financial burden on the states and undermining decentralized governance by reducing the power of Gram Sabhas.
