Parliament Budget session To Be Extended By A Day Till Feb 10: Minister

The ongoing Budget session of Parliament is being extended by a day till Saturday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said here, with the government set to table a 'white paper' comparing the state of the Indian economy before and after 2014, when the BJP came to power defeating the Congress.

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

"Parliament's session will be extended by a day till Saturday," Mr Joshi said, while declining to elaborate on the agenda.

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 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 Houses -- Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha.

In her interim budget speech, Sitharaman had said that the central government would table the 'white paper'.

"The crisis of those years has been overcome, and the economy has been put firmly on a high sustainable growth path with all-round development," the finance minister had said in her speech on February 1.

"It is now appropriate to look at where we were then till 2014 and where we are now, only for the purpose of drawing lessons from the mismanagement of those years. The government will lay a 'white paper' on the table of the House," she had said.

Parliament usually does not function on weekends but there have been instances in the past when the Houses have met on Saturdays.

The 'white paper' will also present the ruling BJP a handle to attack the Congress as the country gears up for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, expected in April-May.

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