Budget session to be extended by one day to February 10

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said here that the ongoing budget session of Parliament will be extended by a day till Saturday and the government will submit a “white paper” comparing the situation before and after the BJP came to power in 2014. The state of the Indian economy defeats the power of Congress.

The meeting started on January 31st and was scheduled to end on February 9th.

“The parliamentary session will be extended by one day until Saturday,” Joshi said, declining to elaborate on the agenda.

Sources said the extension of the session by one day was necessary as the agenda items such as finance bill, budget discussions and appropriation demands are yet to be considered by Parliament and the white paper is also due to be tabled.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the “white paper” to highlight the dire economic state of the country when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) ousts (Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government often leveled this), and how the current government is turning things around.

She will introduce the bill in both houses – the House of Federation and the House of People.

In her interim budget speech, Sitharaman said the central government will submit a “white paper”.

In his speech on February 1, the Finance Minister stated that “the crisis of that year has been overcome, and the economy has firmly embarked on a path of high-speed growth that is sustainable and comprehensive.”

“It’s time to look back at where we were before 2014 and where we are now, just to learn from those years of mismanagement. The government will put a ‘white paper’ before the House,” she said.

Parliament is usually closed on weekends, but there have been instances in the past when the House of Representatives has met on Saturdays.

The “white paper” will also provide the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party with the means to attack the Congress as the country prepares for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, expected to be held in April-May.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from associated news agency – PTI)