Budget 2024: Session begins today; Parliamentary Affairs Minister urges for collaboration from all parties

The Budget Session of Parliament, the last for the current Lok Sabha, begins on Wednesday. President Droupadi Murmu will open the session with an address to the joint sitting. Meanwhile, the government has contacted opposition parties to request their assistance in order to ensure that sessions run smoothly.

The President’s address and the Interim Budget 2024, which Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will announce on February 1, are the main events. They are expected to reveal insights into the ruling BJP’s strategy for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, which are scheduled for April-May.

A meeting of the Government with Floor Leaders of all Political Parties was held under the Chairmanship of Shri Rajnath Singh, Minister of Defence here today before the start of the Interim Budget Session of Parliament, 2024.

In his opening address, Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Shri Pralhad Joshi informed that the Session of Parliament will commence on Wednesday, the 31st of January, 2024 and subject to exigencies of Government Business, the session may conclude on Friday, the 9th of February, 2024. The Session will provide 8 sittings spread over a period of 10 days.

Pralhad Joshi, Parliamentary Affairs Minister, has urged all parties to cooperate in the forthcoming short session of the 17th Lok Sabha.

The primary agenda topics for the session are the President’s Address, the presentation of the Interim Budget, and the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address, which will be responded to by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In addition, he stated that Supplementary Demands for Grants for the Union Government for the financial year 2023-24 would be debated and voted on. Furthermore, he indicated that the presentation and discussion of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir’s Interim Budget for 2024-25, as well as Supplementary Demands for Grants of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir for the fiscal year 2023-24, would be taken up and voted upon.

However, the Congress party brought up problems such as the alleged attack on Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Assam, the alleged misuse of investigative agencies, and the situation in Manipur. Congress leader K Suresh declared that the party will address unemployment, rising inflation, agrarian misery, and the Manipur conflict during the session.

Sudip Bandyopadhyay, a Trinamool Congress politician, requested the finance minister to include pending dues to West Bengal from several central projects in the interim budget, criticising the need for a chief minister to complain for prompt allocation of central dues to the state.

ST Hassan, the Samajwadi Party’s leader, has asked for measures to strengthen the Places of Worship Act. This Act protects the status of religious places as they existed on August 15, 1947, prohibiting conversion while maintaining their religious identity.

Hassan’s petition comes after the Hindu community has demanded that the Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi be given to them.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Joshi described the all-party gathering as ‘very amicable’. He expressed the government’s openness to discuss all concerns during the brief session.

Despite Parliament passing merely an interim budget for the remaining term, the minister may suggest measures to appeal to diverse voting groups, emphasising future government activities if reelected. Former Finance Minister Piyush Goyal has proposed tax benefits and welfare initiatives in the 2019 interim budget before elections, resulting in the government retaining power with a stronger mandate.