Cabinet Committee to meet on Feb 4, discuss date for Budget Session

The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh will meet on February 4 to finalise the dates for the Budget session during which the government is keen to pass the GST Bill.

The crucial Budget Session is usually held in the third and fourth week of February every year. Since the last two sessions were near washouts and government could not push its legislative agenda fully, it was contemplating an early Budget session this time to ensure the passage of key Bills like GST and Real Estate.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu had earlier this month met Congress President Sonia Gandhi seeking cooperation for the early passage of the crucial GST bill and the Real Estate bill.

Naidu had also said that the government was ready for an early Budget session if the parties agree. The Congress President is learnt to have told Naidu that she will get back to him after consultations with her party leaders.

The logjam over the GST, however, continued as the Congress later dismissed as "all optics" Naidu's meeting with Sonia Gandhi seeking her support. Party leaders said that there was no concrete proposal from the government side.

The Winter session had ended on December 23, leaving GST, a crucial economic reform bill pending.

In the session, the Rajya Sabha saw passage of nine bills but lost 47 hours due to disruptions caused almost every day by Congress, which raised one issue after another. The GST Bill, however, could not be passed.

The Lok Sabha performed a little better as it passed 13 bills and saw discussions over various issues like price rise, flood and drought situation, despite repeated uproar created by the opposition Congress over various issues.