‘Very important business’: BJP issues 3-line whip to Lok Sabha members

"All members of BJP in Lok Sabha are therefore, requested to be positively present in the House throughout the day from 10.00 a.m. onwards on Saturday, the 13th February 2021 and support the Government’s stand,” the whip said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday issued a whip to all its members in the Lok Sabha and asked them to be present in the House throughout the day from 10am on Saturday, requesting their support for the government’s stand on “very important legislative business” which is scheduled to be taken up.

In the ongoing session for the discussion on the Union budget, the opposition parties have constantly attacked the Centre over the implementation of the budget and the farm laws in both houses of the parliament. (Reuters)

“All BJP members in Lok Sabha are hereby informed that some very important Legislative Business will be taken up for discussion and passing in the Lok Sabha on Saturday, the 13th February 2021. All members of BJP in Lok Sabha are therefore, requested to be positively present in the House throughout the day from 10.00 a.m. onwards on Saturday, the 13th February 2021 and support the Government’s stand,” whip, signed by the party’s chief whip Rakesh Singh, said.

Watch | Finance minister's counter to ‘crony capitalism’ criticism

In the ongoing budget session, opposition parties have constantly attacked the Centre over the implementation of the financial document and the farm laws in both Houses of Parliament. On Thursday, Congress’ leader P Chidambaram criticised the budget during his Rajya Sabha speech, calling it a “budget for the rich, of the rich and by the rich.” Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also had termed it as a ‘tepid budget’. “The contribution of this budget is ‘Na Jawan, Na Kisan’ (no soldiers, no farmers),” Tharoor had said.

On Friday, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman defended the Union Budget 2021-22 in the Rajya Sabha. Sitharaman said that the opposition had made it a habit to accuse the government despite all the measures it has taken for the poor. She also hailed the budget would help in attaining the goal of Aatmanirbhar Bharat. “It's a budget which clearly draws on the experience, the administrative capacities and also exposure that the Prime Minister had during his long elected tenure, both as CM and as PM of this country,” she said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday defended his government’s implementation of the three farm laws in his reply to the motion of thanks on the President’s address. He said that the content and intent of the farm laws weren’t discussed as much as their colour.