Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) wants Uniform Civil Code to be passed in interim budget session

Shiv Sena MP Rahul Shewale. Pic/Facebook

Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) MP Rahul Shewale Tuesday urged the Parliament to pass the bill on the Uniform Civil Code during the upcoming budget session.

Speaking at a news conference in Delhi after an all-party meet on the eve of the session, Sena MP Rahul Shewale also demanded that Parliament pass a resolution congratulating Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, newswire PTI reported.

Shewale, the Sena's leader in the Lok Sabha, said as the session would be the last session before the general elections, a bill on Uniform Civil Code should be passed. "A resolution congratulating Prime minister Narendra Modi should be passed in Parliament for building a grand Ram temple, and all parties should back it," he added.

His party will support all the bills that the government will introduce, Shewale said.

The budget session will be a short session this time, between January 31 and February 9, with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman set to table an interim budget ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The new government will present the full-fledged budget.

The interim budget 2024 will commence on Wednesday with President Droupadi Murmu addressing a joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in the new Parliament building.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the interim budget on February 1.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi told reporters after the all-party meeting that it was held in a conducive atmosphere.

"All (suspensions) will be revoked. I have spoken with the (Lok Sabha) Speaker and (Rajya Sabha) Chairman, I have also requested them on behalf of the government...This is the jurisdiction of the Speaker and the Chairman. So, we have requested both of them to speak with the concerned privileged committees, revoke the suspension and give them the opportunity to come to the House. Both of them agreed," Joshi said.

Asked if the suspended MPs will come to the House from tomorrow, Joshi said "yes".

An unprecedented 146 opposition MPs were suspended from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha during the winter session of Parliament for "violating rules".

Joshi said that 45 leaders from 30 parties, including the ruling BJP, attended the meeting. "The meeting was held in a conducive atmosphere. This is a short session and the last one of the 17th Lok Sabha. We have requested the MPs to not come with placards," Joshi said.

Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said that inflation and unemployment are two important issues that the party would raise in the budget session.

"Inflation and unemployment are two important issues which we will raise in the upcoming session. Investigative agencies are being misused. The latest example of the way ED is working is that of Jharkhand's CM Hemant Soren. Apart from this, atrocities continue in Manipur. I specifically want to say that the debt burden on the country is increasing," he said.

"I have raised issues regarding economic situation, federal structure, violent attacks on Rahul Gandhi's Yatra in Assam, doubling the income of farmers, ED-CBI raids, caste census among others," he added.

Asked about Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge's remarks that there will be "no more polls if PM Modi wins," Tiwari alleged that the government doesn't believe in democracy.

"What if they change the election process? The public should use its rights and root out the Modi government," he said.

Congress MP K Suresh accused the BJP government of using central agencies as weapons against the opposition. "They want to destabilise the opposition as they are scared of opposition unity."

TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay alleged that the government is not willing to answer questions. "We also raised the issue of suspension of 150 MPs but the attitude of the government is not to reply to any question." (With inputs from agencies)