With the vote-on-account coming to an end by July 31,which makes it incumbent on the UPA government to pass the Budget by that date,the new regime is set to reach out to the Opposition parties to seek their consent to pass the Budget without referring it to the Parliamentary Standing Committees. As per the convention,after the Budget is presented in the Parliament,the two Houses start discussions on the Presidential address before they go into budget recess that continues for about four weeks. The standing committees work during these four weeks. After the recess,the Houses reassemble to discuss and pass the budget. With Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee set to present the Budget in the first week of July and get it passed by July 31,there is not much time left for it to be scrutinised by standing committees. The government would need the consent of all parties to do away with this process. Parliamentary Affairs Minister PK Bansal today met Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha LK Advani. Although the meeting was said to be a courtesy call,the minister was understood to have also sought the Opposition leaders opinion on doing away with the requirement of sending the Budget to standing committees. BJP sources said the Opposition party would not have any objection to the governments proposal. Government sources,however,maintained that there was no formal move to consult the Opposition parties on this issue yet. The standing committees had come into existence during the PV Narasimha Rao regime.
