Parliament's budget session to begin on February 23

The budget session of parliament will begin on February 23 with President Pranab Mukherjee addressing a joint sitting of the two houses -- the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, it was announced on Thursday.

The rail budget will be presented on February 25 and the economic survey report released the next day. The general budget will be presented on February 29, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs.

The budget session is held in two parts and the first phase will continue till March 16 before going into recess for 39 days, Naidu said in a tweet. The session will resume on April 25 and finally conclude on May 13, he added.

The central government also held a meeting with political leaders of poll-bound West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry to discuss if the dates of the budget session were clashing with any election activity in these states.