Budget session likely in second week of July

The Budget session of the 16th Lok Sabha will begin in the second week of July, revealed Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday.

Naidu said the government was working with that time frame in mind and the final details would be worked out by the prime minister and the Cabinet.

The session of the Lok Sabha, which concluded on Thursday, had time only for introducing the new members, the Presidential address and the Motion of Thanks on the address.

Several other decisions, including election of Deputy Speaker, will be taken in the Budget session.

The government is believed to be in favour of having the key posts of chairmen of the public accounts committee, and standing committee on finance and deputy speaker - all usually held by the principal Opposition - to be divided among opposition parties, the Congress, All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Trinamool Congress and the Biju Janata Dal. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan will take a call on giving Leader of Opposition status to the Congress in the coming session.

Three ordinances, including the one enabling former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Chairman Nripendra Mishra to be appointed as principal secretary to the prime minister, promulgated by the new government, will be taken up for ratification in the next session. The ordinances have been tabled in Parliament.

The minister said while pending Bills in the Lok Sabha had lapsed, the government would be prioritising 60 Bills pending in the Rajya Sabha.

Naidu, who also holds charge of the urban development ministry, said he would like to focus on "housing for the poor" but the "big problem" at hand was getting former ministers vacated from bungalows so that those would be allotted to new ones.