First part of Budget session concludes; Lok Sabha to meet again on March 9 after three-week recess

The stormy first part of the Budget session, which saw heated exchanges over the India-US interim trade deal and unpublished memoir of former army chief M M Naravane, concluded Friday and the House will now reassemble on March 9. The three-week recess period will allow standing committees to examine allocations to various central ministries given in the Union Budget. Earlier in the day, the House was adjourned for one hour after Opposition members raised slogans demanding resignation of Union Minister Hardeep Puri. The opposition members were also protesting against the India-US interim trade agreement. The first part of the Budget Session began on January 28 with the address of President Droupadi Murmu to a joint sitting of the two Houses. The Lok Sabha witnessed dramatic scenes and repeated adjournments from February 2 afternoon after the Chair disallowed Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi to quote from the excerpts of the memoir of Naravane relating to the India-China conflict of 2020. The House witnessed noisy protests and dramatic scenes in the coming days leading to the suspension of seven Congress and one CPI-M member from the House for the remainder part of the Budget session for unruly behaviour, including climbing on tables of officials and throwing torn papers at the Chair.