Trinamool Congress Not To Attend Parliament On Budget Day

New Delhi: Trinamool Congress, which is angry over the arrest of its two lawmakers by CBI in connection with the chit fund scam, will not attend Parliament on February 1 when the Budget is presented, citing Saraswati Puja on that day as the reason.

Trinamool will also not attend the all-party meeting convened by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan this evening ahead of the Budget session of Parliament beginning tomorrow.

"Trinamool will not attend Parliament on February 1 because of Saraswati Puja which is a big day in Bengal," party leader and lawmaker Derek O'Brien told PTI.

He said that on Saraswati Puja, day, there is a custom of keeping away from work and not even touching the tools.

"Saraswati Puja is beyond a religious festival. It is a socio-cultural festival of Bengal," he added.

Budget will be presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday.

About not attending this evening's all-party meeting, he said this was because Trinamool chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banshee had called a meeting of party MPs for today "10 days back".