Stormy First Phase of Budget Session Ends, House to Reconvene March 9

The first phase of Parliament’s Budget Session ended on Friday after weeks of acrimonious exchanges, with both Houses set to reconvene on March 9 following a three-week recess.

The break will allow Department-related Standing Committees to scrutinise budgetary allocations made to various ministries in the Union Budget.

The session, which began on January 28 with President Droupadi Murmu addressing a joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, was marked by repeated disruptions, adjournments and suspensions.

Much of the turmoil stemmed from heated exchanges over the India–US interim trade agreement and excerpts from an unpublished memoir by former Army chief M M Naravane, which reportedly referenced the 2020 India–China border conflict.

Tensions escalated on February 2 when Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi was disallowed by the Chair from quoting portions of the memoir in the House. The ruling sparked protests from Opposition benches, leading to repeated adjournments and scenes of disorder.

Over the following days, seven Congress MPs and one CPI(M) member were suspended for the remainder of the session’s first leg for what the Chair described as unruly conduct. The alleged behaviour included climbing onto officials’ tables and throwing torn papers towards the Chair.

On Friday, proceedings were briefly adjourned for an hour after Opposition members raised slogans demanding the resignation of Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. They also voiced objections to the India–US trade deal.

In the Rajya Sabha, Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge urged the Chair to restore remarks he had made on Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the debate on the President’s Address. Chairman C P Radhakrishnan declined the request, stating that once comments are expunged, they cannot be reinstated.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman intervened, asserting that the Leader of the Opposition had sought to question the Chair’s authority. She said the LoP had “stood up to question the Chairman’s decision-making”.

Amid the disruptions, legislative business did proceed. On February 12, the Lok Sabha passed the Industrial Relations Code (Amendment) Bill, 2026, after several hours of debate. The Bill seeks to amend provisions of the Industrial Relations Code, 2020.

Meanwhile, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government had decided not to move a motion against Rahul Gandhi for allegedly using unparliamentary language against the Prime Minister, as a BJP MP had already submitted a notice seeking to initiate a “substantive motion” on the matter.

Speaking to reporters, Rijiju said the Speaker would determine the appropriate course of action. “It has not yet been decided,” he said, adding that the matter could be referred to the privileges committee, the ethics committee, or taken up directly in the Lok Sabha.

With tempers flaring and political divides widening, the first half of the Budget Session concluded in a charged atmosphere, setting the stage for a potentially contentious second phase next month.​