Budget 2021: Congress, 15 other opposition parties to boycott President’s address

The Congress and 15 other opposition parties in the Parliament will boycott President’s address in the Parliament on Friday.

Altogether 16 opposition parties, including the Congress will boycott President’s address to joint sitting of Parliament at the start of the Budget session on Friday.

This was announced by Leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha and veteran Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.

The boycott has been announced in protest against the three farm laws, which were passed in the Parliament in December last year.

“We are issuing a statement from 16 political parties that we are boycotting President’s Address that will be delivered at Parliament tomorrow. The major reason behind this decision is that the Bills (Farm Laws) were passed forcibly in House, without Opposition,” Ghulam Nabi Azad said.

Also read: Economic Survey 2020-21 to be presented today

Besides Congress, the 15 other opposition parties that are set to boycott the President’s address are NCP, Shiv Sena, AITC, DMK, JKNC, SP, RJD, CPI(M),  CPI, IUML, RSP, PDP, MDMK, Kerala Congress and AIUDF.

The opposition has accused the Centre of ‘orchestrating’ the violence that broke out in Delhi on Republic Day (January 26) in a bid to corner the farmers’ unions and ‘discredit’ the protesting farmers.

CPI-M Chief Sitaram Yechury said, “What happened in Delhi on January 26 was straight out of the BJP playbook. That is distraction, destruction and disinformation. It is on the basis of this that they have orchestrated the violence. They now want to use this to distract people from the main issue.”