Rahul, Sonia Gandhi lead protest outside Parliament: Lok Sabha adjourned; Rajya Sabha to reconvene at 2 pm

Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi along with members of 10 Opposition parties led a protest outside the Parliament on Thursday as both the Houses convened on the penultimate day of the Budget Session. The MPs were seen holding placards which highlighted several issues ranging from the dilution of SC/ST Act, the Rs 12,000 crore Punjab National Bank fraud to the farmer crisis in India. [caption id=“attachment_4419137” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. PTI[/caption] The Budget Session of Parliament has been a complete washout with repeated adjournments and delays, with Opposition parties preventing the transaction of any substantial business in both Houses. Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day on Thursday soon after it reconvened in the morning at 11 am. It will reconvene at 11 am on Friday, the last day of the Budget Session. As it reconvened on Thursday, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge had urged Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan to take up the no-confidence motion against the NDA government. However, protests by MPs over the Cauvery river water sharing issue led to the adjournment of the Lower House. Rajya Sabha will reconvene at 2 pm. BJP and NDA party MPs had announced on Wednesday that they will take a pay cut for the 23 days wasted in the second phase of the Budget Session. According to News18, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad had held a meeting with other parties to find a way to extend the Budget Session, to complete some of the pending work. On Wednesday, too, no substantial business could be transacted in both Houses due to the continued protests by the Opposition. While Congress and BSP accused the government of being “anti-Dalit”, the TMC protested against bank frauds. TDP members were demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh. KVP Ramachandra Rao of the Congress was also seen holding a placard demanding special status for Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the two Tamil Nadu parties — DMK and AIADMK — were demanding constitution of the Cauvery Water Management Board for sharing of river water between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. **Follow LIVE updates on Budget Session of Parliament here** With agency inputs