The Budget session of Parliament, which is also the last session of the 17th Lok Sabha, will commence on Wednesday with President Droupadi Murmu’s special address to both the houses.
This will be the first address of President Murmu in the new Parliament building.
After her address to the joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the interim budget.
Ahead of the last session of the Parliament, the government convened an all-party meeting to struck a conciliatory note with the Opposition.
Speaking to reporters after the all-party meeting, Union Parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said that the government has requested Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar to revoke the suspension of Opposition MPs.
“All (suspensions) will be revoked. I have spoken with the (Lok Sabha) Speaker and (Rajya Sabha) Chairman, I have also requested them on behalf of the government…This is the jurisdiction of the Speaker and the Chairman. So, we have requested both of them to speak with the concerned privileged committees, revoke the suspension and give them the opportunity to come to the House. Both of them agreed,” Joshi said.
He further informed that the meeting was attended by 45 leaders from 30 parties, including the ruling BJP and main Opposition Congress.
“The meeting was held in a conducive atmosphere. This is a short session and the last one of the 17th Lok Sabha. We have requested the MPs to not come with placards,” Joshi added.
Following the meeting, Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar revoked the suspension of 11 Opposition MPs in order to allow them to attend the special address of President Murmu.
Dhankhar revoked their suspension shortly after the Rajya Sabha Privileges Committee held them guilty of breach of privilege and contempt of the Council of States.
The committee presented it’s report to the Rajya Sabha Chairman and reportedly recommended that the period of suspension already suffered by the Opposition MPs be treated as “sufficient”.
The MPs whose suspension has been revoked are Congress’s Jebi Mather, L Hanumanthaiah, Neeraj Dangi, Rajmani Patel, Kumar Ketkar, and GC Chandrasekhar, CPI’s Binoy Viswam and Sandosh Kumar P, DMK’s Mohamad Abdulla and CPIM’s John Brittas and AA Rahim.