Budget 2017: What Speaker Sumitra Mahajan told Oppn amid loud protests

She announced that the Lok Sabha will be adjourned on Thursday as a mark of respect to deceased member E Ahamed.

Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan cleared the presentation of the Union budget on Wednesday morning amid loud protests by opposition parties.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan enter Parliament to mark the beginning of the budget session in New Delhi, India. (Arvind Yadav/Hindustan Times)

She announced that the Lok Sabha will be adjourned on Thursday as a mark of respect to deceased member E Ahamed.

Mahajan said usually the house would have been adjourned after obituary references to Ahamed – who died early Wednesday and was a Lok Sabha member from Mallapuram – but “exceptional circumstances” of budget presentation had to take precedence as it was a “constitutional requirement”.

The decision was met with loud protests by the Congress and other parties with Mallikarjun Kharge saying the budget should be postponed by a day as Ahamed – a former foreign minister – was a senior member.

“In our opinion, including JD(U) leaders and former prime minister Deve Gowda, the budget should be postponed,” Kharge was quoted as saying by ANI.