01 February,2017 07:15 PM IST | | Agencies
Congress and some other opposition parties wanted deferment of presentation of the Budget for 2017-18 in the Lok Sabha as a mark of respect to member E Ahamed who passed away Wednesday morning, but Speaker Sumitra Mahajan ruled otherwise, saying it is a Constitutional obligation that must be fulfilled. She said the House would not sit tomorrow as a mark of respect to the deceased member
Congress and some other opposition parties today wanted deferment of presentation of the Budget for 2017-18 in the Lok Sabha as a mark of respect to member E Ahamed who passed away Wednesday morning, but Speaker Sumitra Mahajan ruled otherwise, saying it is a Constitutional obligation that must be fulfilled. She said the House would not sit tomorrow as a mark of respect to the deceased member.
As soon as the House met for the day, the Speaker informed members about the demise of Ahamed and paid homage to the president of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) who had also served as a minister in the previous UPA government.
The House then observed silence for a minute in memory of the member who collapsed in Parliament yesterday during the President's address to the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
Soon after, Leader of Congress Mallikarjun Kharge said the House should be adjourned for the day and was joined by members of some other parties like Left and RJD.
Responding, the Speaker said, "I would have adjourned (the House) today. But the date for presentation of the Budget has been fixed by the President and hence it is a constitutional obligation."
