The second leg of the budget session had a stormy beginning in Parliament on Monday, with the Opposition demanding a discussion on rising fuel prices and the government trying to take cover behind International Women’s Day to avoid one.

Opposition members chanted slogans and forced repeated adjournments after the presiding officers in both Houses refused their notices for adjourning business to discuss fuel prices.

“A discussion on women’s empowerment is slated today. They (the Opposition) should allow it and show respect to the women members of the House,” parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said amid the din in the Lok Sabha.

Congress members retorted that the sharp rise in cooking gas prices had hit women hard and the government should discuss it if it was concerned about women.

Cooking gas costs around Rs 845 a cylinder, a 45 per cent hike since last May. Petrol has crossed Rs 100 a litre in parts of the country, and diesel Rs 80.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the Congress’s leader in the Lok Sabha, dared the government to bring in the women’s reservation bill and pass aresolution on it on Monday itself if it was so serious about women’s empowerment.

The protests forced Speaker Om Birla to adjourn the House till 7pm. When the House resumed at 7pm, a discussion on women’s empowerment was taken up despite protests from the Congress and some other Opposition parties.

Trinamul member Satabdi Roy participated in the discussion as Congress MPs chanted anti-government slogans over the fuel prices, baring possible divisions within the Opposition ranks. Roy did not raise the subject of fuel prices while speaking on women’s empowerment.

In the Rajya Sabha, the newly appointed leader of the Opposition, Mallikarjun Kharge, remained firm and refused to allow any business, demanding a discussion on fuel prices first.

Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu disallowed Kharge’s notice for adjournment of business, saying the fuel prices could be raised during the discussion on the Appropriation Bill.

The Rajya Sabha session began at 9am and the Lok Sabha session at 4pm – a pandemic-induced practice started during the first leg of the budget session to ensure proceedings ended in one House before beginning in the other. The idea was to ensure physical distancing by getting the MPs to spread across both Houses during each session and communicate via videoconferencing.

From Tuesday, however, both Houses will start their sessions from 11am as usual. Most of the MPs are above 60 and have been vaccinated against Covid-19.

Early end mooted

The second leg of the budget session, scheduled to run till April 8, may be curtailed keeping in mind the Assembly elections in five states.

Sources said around 145 Lok Sabha members across parties from the poll-bound states had written to the Speaker requesting a shorter session to enable them to campaign. Among them was Trinamul Lok Sabha leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay, seeking an abridgement on behalf of his party.

Trinamul Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien too has written to the Rajya Sabha Chairman requesting a truncated session and citing precedents from past elections.

Speaker Birla is expected to consult MPs from different parties before taking a decision. Government sources suggested that most Opposition members wanted a curtailed session, and both Houses might therefore be adjourned sine die by the end of March.