Budget 2017: Centre broke tradition, disgraced E Ahamed citing 'constitutional requirement', says CPI (M)

Slamming the General Budget session on Wednesday which went on without any hindrance despite the demise of former Union Minister E Ahamed, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury tore into the Centre for breaking tradition and playing the card of 'constitutional requirement' to get away with it.

"See, the rule is that if a senior member, in this case a member who has served the cabinet for more than 10 years passes away, it is a tradition to adjourn the house. That tradition has been broken", Yechury said.

Going further with his criticism he said, that budget was originally scheduled on 28th February, when the Centre decided amongst themselves to schedule ahead to 1st February.

"Now again they cited 'constitutional requirement' to proceed with the budget, when as per tradition, the proceeding should have been stalled immediately after the untimely demise," he said.

"There is no need for such 'requirement'; citing 'constitutional requirement' to go ahead with the budget is highly humiliating to E Ahamed.", the left leader added.

Asserting that not taking into account of the demise of a former union Minister foregrounds the Centre's stubbornness, Yechury emphasised that what transpired in the House marks a sad chapter in history of Indian Politics.

Former Union Minister and Indian Union Muslim League leader E Ahamed passed away in the wee hours of Wednesday morning at the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital in Delhi, after he suffered a cardiac arrest in the Parliament yesterday.

The minister was admitted in critical condition after suffering a cardiac arrest during the President's address in both Houses on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, Jaitley presented the General Budget proposals for 2017-18 in Parliament and said the major thrust of his fourth budget is on stimulating growth, relief to middle class, affordable housing, curbing black money, promoting digital economy, transparency of political funding and simplification of tax administration.