Advani rues shortest Budget session of Parliament

"The dates of the Budget session and the poll schedule for the states could have been properly coordinated," Advani said in his latest blog.

He felt, "If the government and the Election Commission had had an informal interaction early in January, this situation could have been avoided."

The NDA working chairman's comments came after Parliament adjourned sine die on Friday in view of Assembly elections in five states though it was earlier scheduled to have a second phase in April.

"This may have been the shortest Budget Session in many years" on the ground that the Election Commission had announced the programme of polls for four states and a Union Territory.

Apparently with an eye on the upcoming Assembly elections particularly in Assam, where Muslims constitute a sizable chunk of the electorate, Advani lauded the works being done by NDA-ruled states for the minority community.

In the blog, Advani referred to the speech of Shahnawaz Hussain, BJP's lone Muslim face in the Lok Sabha, on a motion to discuss the educational condition of minorities, to highlight NDA-ruled states' contribution for the welfare of Muslims.

"In his excellent speech Shahnawaz cited numerous statistics contrasting the prosperity of Muslims in Gujarat with the problems of Muslims elsewhere in the country," Advani said.

He also complimented Hussain for his reference to the contribution of Muslims to the Indian cricket team, saying three key players - Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel and Yusuf Pathan - are from the BJP-ruled Gujarat.