"PM Modi will deliver political speech": Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Motion of Thanks

The reply assumes significance ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which are just a few months away.

"Lok Sabha elections are around the corner. PM Modi, instead of answering and discussing the issues of inflation, unemployment, farmers and atrocities against women, would rather deliver a political speech. Since he thinks it would benefit them in the 2024 elections," Chaturvedi told ANI on Monday.

PM Modi is scheduled to reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address in Lok Sabha today at 5 p.m.

President Droupadi Murmu addressed the joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on January 31, the first day of the Budget Session.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has issued a three-line whip to all its MPs in Lok Sabha to be present in the Lower House on the fourth day of the ongoing Budget Session.

On Thursday, the government presented the Union Budget for 2024-25. The government said that the budget was presented with a focus on economic policies that foster growth, facilitate inclusive development, improve productivity, and create opportunities for various sections, while also noting that it will pay utmost attention to the eastern region including states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and West Bengal, to make them growth engines as part of goal to make India a developed country by 2047.

No change was proposed in the tax rates in the interim budget, with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing that the government will form a high-powered committee for an extensive consideration of the challenges arising from the fast population and that it will present a white paper on the economic performance of 10 years of BJP-led government compared to the previous 10 years of Congress-led UPA government.

The last session before Lok Sabha polls expected to be held in April-May this year will be spread over eight sittings spread over a period of 10 days and may conclude on February 9. (ANI)