New Delhi, February 10 Signaling the end of the deadlock between the treasury benches and the opposition, the Lok Sabha on Tuesday afternoon took up discussion on the Union Budget, which had been stalled for days due to the opposition's demand that Rahul Gandhi be allowed to speak on a variety of issues.
When the House assembled at 2 pm after two adjournments, Krishna Prasad Tenneti, who was in the Chair, asked Congress member Shashi Tharoor to initiate the debate, and the Thiruvananthapuram MP began speaking on the issue.
In a day of rapid developments, the breakthrough came shortly after opposition parties submitted a notice to move a resolution to remove Om Birla as Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
From 2 pm to 8 pm, members from various parties participated in the debate.
The business advisory committee of the Lok Sabha has allocated 18 hours for the debate, with Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman likely to respond on Thursday afternoon.
Since February 2, the Lok Sabha has witnessed unruly scenes and repeated disruptions, leading to the suspension of seven Congress and one CPI(M) members for the rest of the Budget session.
Anticipating unpleasant scenes, Birla requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to attend the House last week when he was to respond to the Motion of Thanks on the President's address.
Birla's claim that Congress members could create unpleasant scenes had further aggravated the stalemate between the government and the opposition.
Due to disruptions, the prime minister could not respond to the Motion of Thanks on the President's address delivered to both the Houses on January 28.
The motion was adopted by a voice vote amid slogans from the opposition.
Birla had last week lamented that the disruptions have wasted over 19 hours of House time.
