The Budget Session of Parliament will commence on February 23rd, that will focus largely on the financial business of the government, which will present the general budget on February 29th. There will be no curtailment of the session or the recess period on account of Assembly elections in five states.

"The budget session of parliament will commence on February 23. The Rail Budget will be presented on February 25, the pre-budget economic survey on February 26 and the General budget on February 29. The first part of Budget session will end on March 16 and the second part will be convened from April 25 to May 13," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu told reporters after the meeting of CCPA.

"In 2011, the then government had decided not to refer bills to Standing Committees in the budget session when states were going to polls and there were demands to curtail the session. But the government today decided that bills will be referred to standing committees for examination during recess period," Naidu said.

"We are hopeful that this budget session will be constructive that will take forward the country's development and that of the poor, youth and other sections. We hope no political party will stop the progress and development on these issues. We hope the Congress party will make up for the loss of the previous two sessions. We are making attempts to talk to all so that this session functions in a proper manner. We are talking to all parties, formally and informally and our attempt is that the budget session is positive and constructive," Naqvi said.

“The Session’s working days should not be curtailed. They should hold a complete recess to enable the Standing Committees to examine the budgetary allocations to various ministries,” Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters after the meeting.

JD-U leader Sharad Yadav said, “There was consensus among various parties that despite the assembly elections in a few states, the number of working days of the budget session should not be reduced. But parties left it to the government for deciding the dates of recess.”

By Premji