Committee to meet on Feb 4 to decide budget session schedule

The Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today said the cabinet committee on parliamentary affairs will meet on February 4 to fix the schedule of the budget session of Parliament.
"Committee will be meeting on February 4. We are also holding talks with some of the opposition parties. During the session period Assembly elections in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala may take place.
"The elections are likely to be held in April. Same thing happened in 2011. We are talking to political parties from these states on how to schedule the session," he told reporters here.

After fixing the schedule of the session, it will be informed to the Prime Minister. "After his signature, it will go the President and then the notification on Parliament session will be issued," he said.
Asked about selection of cities for the ambitious 'smart city' program, he said three international agencies were involved in the process, and dismissed allegation of nepotism.
He pointed out that his own native place Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, or Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency Varanasi do not figure in the list of cities selected for the project.