BJP issues whip to MPS to attend both Houses today

NEW DELHI: THE Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) issued a whip on Monday asking MPS to be present in Parliament on Tuesday, the last day of the session. Though no reason was specified, finance minister Nirmala Sithraman is expected to speak first in Lok Sabha and then Rajya Sabha.

NEWDELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has issued a whip asking its members of parliament to be present in their respective Houses on Tuesday when Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to reply to discussions on the Union Budget 2020 in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Sitharaman is likely to speak in the Lok Sabha first and then in Rajya Sabha.

The party did not specify what the whip was about.

Discussions on the Union budget, which was presented on February 1, have been going on for the last few days in Parliament.

In the longest Union Budget speech in history, Sitharaman talked about tax regime, finance, agriculture, irrigation, water, sanitation, healthcare, education, infrastructure, women, digital connectivity among others.

While opposition members have attacked the government over economic slowdown and “record-high” unemployment, treasury benches have lauded the Centre for various initiatives in the budget. On Monday, too, former finance minister P Chidambaram attacked the government’s handling of the economy, saying it was “perilously close to a collapse”.

The first phase of the session will conclude on February 11, while the second part will begin from March 2 and end on April 3.