Congress corners government over FM Arun Jaitley’s absence, stalls Budget 2015 debate

NEW DELHI: The Congress pushed the government into a tight spot in the Lok Sabha on Thursday when it stalled the debate on the Union Budget by protesting the absence of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the House.

The government suffered a bigger embarrassment when its effort to divide the Opposition provoked non-Congress Opposition to say it was inappropriate to begin the discussion on budget as traditionally a speaker from the main Opposition party started the debate. Left with no option, the government and the chair deferred the debate till Monday when Jaitley is expected to return from London.

As soon as Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha began speaking on the budget, Congress members, led by Mallikarjun Kharge were up in arms, saying as per the Lok Sabha conventions, the customary presence of the Finance Minister was warranted on the beginning of the budget debate. They refused to be persuaded by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and forced a 15-minute adjournment of the House.

When the House re-convened both the Speaker and Parliamentary Affairs Ministers Venkaiah Naidu clarified that Jaitley had gone to London after informing the Chair and that he was on an official visit. Both said as per the rules the MoS for finace Sinha was competent enough to represent the ministry during the commencement of the debate and that Jaitley would reply to the debate by Monday evening or Tuesday.

But Congress members were determined not to let the Chair or the government have their way. Kharge stood his ground during each of his intervention and said while his party would not question the Speaker’s wisdom nor will it doubt the MoS for Finance’s ability, Congress can’t be party to setting a “wrong convention”. Muslim League leader E Ahmed too backed the Congress argument.