Budget session extended by a day till Feb 10: Speaker

The Budget session of Parliament has been extended by a day till February 10, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla announced on Wednesday.

The session, which began on January 31, was otherwise slated to end on February 9.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi had said on Tuesday that the government will table a ‘white paper’ comparing the state of the Indian economy before and after 2014, when the BJP came to power defeating the Congress.

With the agenda items like the Finance Bill, budget discussion and demand for grants yet to be taken up by Parliament and the white paper also to be tabled, sources had said it was considered necessary to extend the session’s duration by a day.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the ‘white paper’ to highlight the country’s poor economic condition when the Congress-led UPA left power, as often charged by the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and how the incumbent dispensation brought the turn around.

She will table it in both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha. Parliament usually does not function on weekends but there have been instances in the past when the Houses have met on Saturdays.