Budget session extended by a day till Feb 10: Speaker

NEW DELHI: The Budget session of Parliament has been extended by a day till February 10, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla announced in the House on Wednesday.

The session, which began on January 31, was otherwise slated to end on February 9.

Soon after the Question Hour ended, Birla informed the House that Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi has proposed that the session be extended by one day till February 10, Saturday to dispose "important government business".

He took the sense of the House and the members agreed.

A similar exercise of seeking sense of the House could be taken up in the Rajya Sabha too.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Joshi had said on Tuesday that the session is being extended by a day till February 10. He, however, refused to elaborate the agenda.

With the agenda items like the Finance Bill, budget discussion and demand for grants yet to be taken up by Parliament and the white paper also to be tabled, sources had said it was considered necessary to extend the session's duration by a day.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the 'white paper' to highlight the country's poor economic condition when the Congress-led UPA left power, as often charged by the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and how the incumbent dispensation brought the turn around.

She will table it in both Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha.

Parliament usually does not function on weekends but there have been instances in the past when the Houses have met on Saturdays.