New Delhi, February 25 The government will initiate discussions with the opposition on the selection of ministries for debates on the grants demands in the Lok Sabha during the second part of the Budget session, as Speaker Om Birla refused to be a part of the process due to a pending motion of no-confidence against him.
Discussions will be held on the grants demands in approximately five ministries in the Lok Sabha. Sources said a decision needs to be made on which ministries will be included in the exercise.
They said that normally, the Speaker initiates the process of selecting the ministries, but since the motion of no-confidence submitted by opposition MPs against Birla has not yet been decided, he refused to participate in any discussions on it.
Therefore, the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs will initiate discussions with the opposition parties to select the ministries on which the debates on the grants demands will be held, they said.
On February 15, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju had said that the debate and subsequent voting on the no-confidence motion moved by the opposition against Birla will be held on March 9, when the House reassembles after the recess.
The second part of the Budget session is scheduled to be held from March 9 to April 2.
The first part of the Budget session was held from January 28 to February 13.
During the first part of the session, the Lok Sabha witnessed disruptions since February 2, after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was disallowed by the chair from quoting from an article based on excerpts of former Army chief M M Naravane's "unpublished memoir", which has references to the India-China conflict of 2020.
On February 4, Prime Minister Narendra Modi could not reply to the debate on the Motion of Thanks due to opposition protests.
In an unprecedented move, the Motion of Thanks was passed on February 5 without the customary speech by the prime minister.
The Speaker read out the Motion of Thanks to the President for her address and it was passed by a voice vote, amid sloganeering by opposition members.
Birla had said that he had received concrete information that many Congress MPs could carry out an "unexpected act" by reaching the spot where PM Modi sits and, therefore, he asked him not to come to the House to deliver his address.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra refuted this.
Eight opposition members were suspended for the remainder of the Budget session for unruly behaviour in the House.
During the session, a no-confidence motion was initiated by the opposition parties against Birla, alleging that he had acted in a "blatantly partisan" manner, following which he decided to step aside from his role as the presiding officer of the House.
