50 MPs participate in Prez address debate in Rajya Sabha; PM to reply on Monday morning

Fifty MPs from 25 parties participated in the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address, which lasted for 15 hours

The Rajya Sabha on Friday concluded the 15-hour-long debate on the President's Address with 50 MPs airing their views even as Lok Sabha is struggling to start the proceedings since the Budget was tabled.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will reply to the debate on February 8 after the Question Hour ends at 10:30 am.

Parliament updates on Feb 5

Fifty MPs from 25 parties have participated in the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address in between Wednesday 9:40 AM and Friday 2:30 PM.

Eighteen lawmakers from the ruling BJP, seven of Congress and 25 from other parties participated in the marathon debate.

The first full working day of Rajya Sabha on February 2, a day after the tabling of Budget, was washed away after the Opposition remained adamant on a separate discussion on the contentious farm laws and the farmers' agitation at Delhi borders.

However, a consensus was reached on February 2 evening with the government agreeing to increase the time for debate from 10 hours to 15 hours.

Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad held consultations with other Opposition parties after which they agreed for the start of the debate on February 3 as scheduled earlier.

However, three-member AAP did not agree with it and continued to stage protests in the House on Wednesday, following which they were marshalled out of the House on the orders of Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu.

Read | Tomar defends farm laws; says Opposition couldn't point out shortcomings

The decision of Congress leadership in Rajya Sabha exposed chinks within the party as its Lok Sabha wing refused to go along.

Though Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Chief Whip Kodikkunnil Suresh initially agreed to allow the discussion by increasing the debate time by five hours like in Rajya Sabha, party MPs resisted the idea and said they would not settle for anything other than a separate debate on farmers' issues.

This led to former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who was said to be not in agreement with the line taken by the party in Rajya Sabha, chairing a meeting of Lok Sabha MPs where a large majority of MPs supported disruption of the House if their demand was not met.

Rahul also met other Opposition leaders and convinced them to join hands. For the past three days, the ruling BJP has not been able to initiate the debate.