Budget Session of Parliament resumes today; Congress to press for Home Minister Amit Shah’s resignation for failure to contain Delhi violence
New Delhi: The Budget Session of Parliament is resuming on Monday (March 2) amid violence in the national capital that claimed at least 46 lives and injured about 350 others. The opposition would put the BJP-led central government in the dock seeking answers over lapses on its part as well as Delhi Police.
The second half of Budget Session is likely to be stormy as the main opposition Congress party has already said that it will seek the resignation of Home Minister Amit Shah over the Centre`s alleged failure in containing violence in the national capital.
The Congress has accused the Central and Delhi governments of failing to contain the violence that erupted in parts of northeast Delhi. A meeting was reportedly held at the residence of party chief Sonia Gandhi on Saturday which is said to have discussed party`s strategy to corner the government in Parliament on Delhi violence.
On Sunday, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that his party will continue to press for the resignation of Home Minister Shah and will also unmask them over the violence in Delhi, which left 42 people dead and over 200 injured.
“We will raise all the important issues and unmask them. We will not spare them (BJP). We are asking for Amit Shah`s resignation. We will continue to do so in parliament as well,” adding “Delhi violence took place under their watch. Now the same thing is happening in West Bengal. They are creating the same atmosphere. `Goli Maro Saalo Ko` slogan is being raised here in West Bengal.”
The BJP, however, has accused the Congress party of “politicising” the violence saying that there was “instigation” by opposition leaders to protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Congress has also accused the BJP-led government of ruining the Indian economy by its “monumental mismanagement.” Congress leader Anand Sharma said on Saturday the GDP for the third quarter was at 4.7 per cent and it was the seventh consecutive quarter when the GDP has fallen.
During the second half of the Budget Session, the government is expected to push its legislative agenda that includes Bills relating to surrogacy and resolution of disputed tax.
Apart from Finance Bill 2020, Aircraft (Amendment) Bill and The Direct Tax Vivad Se Vishwas Bill were among the legislation introduced in the first half that concluded on February 11.
The government`s legislative agenda for the Budget Session of Parliament includes nearly 45 Bills and seven financial items, including replacing Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019 and the Mineral Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 with Bills during the session.
The first half of the Budget Session had begun on January 31 with an address by President Ram Nath Kovind to the joint sitting of two houses. The Union Budget was presented on February 1 and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman replied to the debate on the budget. Notably, the Budget Session is slated to conclude on April 3.
