New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to wind up the budget session of Parliament as early as on Monday or Tuesday as he would face a renewed pressure on Monday from the Opposition to do so in view of a score of MPs of both ruling BJP and opposition parties going into “self isolation” fearing to have contacts with the coronavirus suspects.
The fear has gripped MPs since Friday over coming in touch in the Parliament House with Rajasthan MP Dushyant Singh, after his mother Vasundhara Raje, a former chief minister, tweeted that both have gone into “self quarantine” in view of attending a party in Lucknow and coming in touch with a Bollywood singer who has been found corona “positive”.
The Prime Minister and his ministers have been taking the stand that the Parliament session should go on till April 3 as scheduled as an early shutdown will cause panic among the people. Sources say PM Modi was not shutting down the Parliament despite the spread of the coronavirus only because it would have given the legitimacy to the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Speaker adjourning the House for 10 days citing the virus threat. That issue no longer remains as Chief Minister Kamal Nath has resigned and the Assembly Speaker’s action won’t come in the way of an early closure of the Parliament session.
The only business of the budget session that remains not completed is the discussion and passage of the Finance Bill to endorse the tax proposals in the budget. If the government agrees to wind up the session, the Finance Bill can be brought as early as on Monday through a supplementary agenda in the Lok Sabha and its passage can pave way for ending the session.
Only on Friday, RSP member NK Premachandran had protested in the Lok Sabha that the government is putting the Finance Bill on the agenda since Tuesday and then pulling it out, making members prepare every day for the debate. The appropriation bill related to the Budget was passed on Monday after the remaining demands were guillotined and so the Finance Bill should have followed the very next day to complete the budget business, Premachandran argued.
