The first Budget Session of the newly constituted Parliament will begin from July 2 and the General Budget for 2009-10 will be presented in the Lok Sabha on July 6. The Railway Budget will be presented by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on July 3.

The schedule was decided at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The session, which will start from July two with the presentation of the Economic Survey, would last till August 7.

According to some official sources, the Government is keen to pass the budget before July 31 to avoid a fresh vote-on-account.

Presentation of the Railway Budget, Union Budget and the Economic Survey, the Railway Budget and followed by a meeting on the demands for grants of select ministries, a discussion on general budget and adoption of the Appropriation Bill would constitute most of the time of the new session.

The rift in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) camp after the aftermath of its poll debacle has now further aggravated. The senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh has raised his protest against the new appointments in the BJP.

At a BJP core group meeting on Wednesday, Jaswant Singh shocked everyone by questioning BJP leader L K Advani's post poll decisions, referring especially to his continuation in office and the appointment of Arun Jaitely as the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.

Singh asked, "Where's the link between parinam (results) and puraskar (rewards)? Where's the introspection?"

Shocked by his outburst, Advani asked Jaswant Singh to withdraw a note that he had distributed to core group members, saying all the issues would be addressed.

According to BJP sources, Jaswant Singh along with other BJP Leaders like Murli Manohar Joshi, Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie are upset that Advani has not quit and favours Arun Jaitley at their cost despite the BJP's poll debacle in the Lok Sabha elections 2009. Singh was also tipped to be the next BJP President also.

BJP chief Rajnath Singh has said these points in question would be taken up at a brainstorming session ­ though not necessarily at the party's national executive meet on June 20 and 21.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is asking his Union Council of Ministers to adhere to the agenda listed for the first 100 days in office.

Singh has written a letter to his colleagues in the Union Council ofMinisters to look into the priorities and programmes defined in the President Pratibha Patil's address to the joint sitting of Parliament.

According to PMO sources, the letter would also focus on the good governance.

BJP's Karia Munda was unanimously elected as the deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha on Monday.

Seven UPA and six NDA partners supported the nomination of Munda, who was chosen by the BJP as the Deputy Speaker candidate after the Congress-led UPA offered the post to the Opposition as per convention.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh congratulated Mr. Munda for his "wealth of experience".

"He has been an accomplished social worker. He is also a man with quality of head and heart. We assure him full co-operation," Manmohan Singh said.

On Sunday, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar ruled out the merger of his party with the Congress.

However, Pawar quickly emphasised that the attitude of the NCP had been been one of the understanding and cooperation with the Congress and “ will continue to be so.”

He also said that his party preferred working together with the Congress in the approaching Assembly elections in Maharashtra and “we feel that the party’s [Congress] leadership feels the same way, whatever some leaders in the State may be saying.”

Mr. Pawar dismissed as a media creation the impression that the NCP was on the horns of a dilemma of whether to join the Congress as the issue of the foreign origin of Congress president Sonia Gandhi was no longerrelevant.

The remarks of Mr. Pawar came on the context of the recent meeting ofthe former Lok Sabha Speaker, P.A. Sangma, had with the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi where he apologised to her for whatever happened 10 years ago on the issue of her foreign origin.

In an unusual move, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has opted to make public his advice to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to incorporate in the budget the priorities outlined in President Pratibha Patil's address to the joint session of Parliament on Thursday.

The President unveiled what has been described and hailed as a pro-poor agenda of the second Manmohan Singh-led Government.

The Prime Minister has asked the Finance Ministry to ensure that the budget adequately and appropriately reflects the priorities and programmes outlined in the President's speech.

Mr. Mukherjee is scheduled to present the budget on July 3.

It is customary that a Prime Minister gets to set the overall direction and broad contours for his Finance Minister before he starts the budget preparation exercise with North Block officials.

However, by going public so early with his advice, according to senior aides, Dr. Singh has locked the Finance Minister on the side of the aam aadmi against widespread expectations and demands from industry.

BJP's Karia Munda is all set to be the new Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha as the ruling and the opposition parties on Friday supported his nomination for the post, for which there is no other contender.

Seven UPA and six NDA partners supported the nomination of Munda, who was chosen by the BJP as the Deputy Speaker candidate after the Congress-led UPA offered the post to the Opposition as per convention.

Results of the election for the post will be announced on Monday.

The Union Budget will be presented by the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on July 3 while Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee will present the Rail Budget on July 1. The Economic Survey is likely to be held on July 2.

The Union Budget '09 attains critical importance in the wake of the global financial crisis. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance(UPA) Government will have many tasks on its to-do list, which includes pushing growth and demand, continuing to maintain liquidity, balancing inflation and also controlling the country's worrying fiscal situation.

On Thursday, President Pratibha Patil presented the new Government's agenda that includes the economy revival by investing more in the sectors such as infrastructure, a blueprint for national security and a host of social welfare programmes focusing on the creation of a more inclusive society and economy.

President Pratibha Patil said, "In 2004 my Government had set before the country a vision of an inclusive society and an inclusive economy. My Government sees the overwhelming mandate it has received as a vindication of the policy architecture that it put in place."

The UPA led-Congress after coming to the power met for the first time post Lok Sabha elections in a joint session addressed by the President. The session was attended by over 700 MPs of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

After the declaration of the policies and programmes of the new Government, the President highlighted 10 areas that includes internal security, growth in agriculture and health and education, governance form and energy security and would get billing during Manmohan's second term in office. Welfare of the common man, urban employment and recession issues are of priority to the Governments concern. The new UPA Government will guarantee 25 kg of rice or wheat per month to the families that are below the poverty line.

Welfare programmes like the rural job scheme by enlarging the scope of works permitted under it, would be strengthened by the Government. This scheme is for unskilled manual work only. Measures will be taken against the issues related to the minority communities. The Government will also set up an equal opportunity commission as part of a slew of measures for the welfare of the minority communities, said Patil.

Economical growth with the fiscal concern and to encourage foreign investment inflows, list shares of state-run firms on stock markets and pump more capital in banks will be of great concern to the new Government.

On Thursday, President Pratibha Patil will address the joint session of both the Houses of the Parliament where she will disclose the agenda of Congress-led Government schemes to strengthen welfare schemes and boost the economy.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh extensively worked on the President's address that will reveal the agenda of the Government for the year in tune with the policies and programmes of the ruling Congress party and its allies.

It is to be noted that a 100-day action plan for his Government has been promised by the Prime Minister and he is also likely to give prominence to the unfinished agenda of the United Progressive Alliance, mainly in infrastructure and development sectors, also fresh package to pull the economy out of the current slowdown will also be announced.

According to official sources, issues like strengthening of key social sector programmes like the rural employment and Bharat Nirman schemes, initiatives for urban employment as well as terrorism will figure prominently in the President's speech.

There will be a debate on the Presidential address on June 5, 6 and 7 before the House adjourns for the Vote of Thanks on June 9.

The Budget session of parliament is likely to begin in the first week of July.

After the defeat of NDA-led BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party declared Arun Jaitely as the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Sushma Swaraj its Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

In a formal announcement, L K Advani, the Leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, nominated the new office-bearers of the parliamentary party as per the authorisation. According to the party sources, the names of the office bearers were finalised after consultating BJP President Rajnath Singh, the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) leaders and Mr. Advani.

The Lok Sabha will be overpowered by Ramesh Bais and the same job will be done by Maya Singh in the Upper House while S.S. Ahluwalia has been appointed the Deputy Leader of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha.

BJP leaders are emphasising that all these arrangements will be reviewed in a few months by the end of the BJP President Mr. Singh's tenure. A brief idea will be taken on who should become the party President and leaders of the opposition in both the houses. It's anticipated that Mr. Advani will step down to give away the chance to younger leaders to become the party President. Various factors will decide the issue when changes are made in few months. If the amendment will be done for party's constitution to allow for a second consecutive three-year term to the President, Mr. Singh is likely to retain that post and Ms. Swaraj would replace Mr. Advani.

However, in case that doesn't happens then Mr. Singh could become Leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and Mr. Jaitley, Ms. Swaraj or some other leader could become the party President.

On Wednesday, former Union Minister Meira Kumar was undisputedly elected as the speaker of the 15th Lok Sabha. She is the first Dalit and the first Indian woman to become the speaker.

The nominations were filed on her behalf by parties across the political spectrum which had the signatures of leaders of all the parties, together with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Leader of opposition L.K. Advani.

The post of Deputy Speaker will go the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and according to sources BJP has taken the decision to nominate Karia Munda, a tribal leader from Jharkhand and former minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government, for the post of deputy speaker.

Meira was elected by a voice vote on Wednesday. She termed her nomination for the post of speaker as a "historic moment for the country."

"It is a historic moment. It is a very overwhelming moment for me," said Meira Kumar.

A diplomat- turned- politician, Kumar is the daughter of former deputy Prime Minister late Jagjivan Ram.

The Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee is expected to present the Rail Budget in the Lok Sabha on July 8.

A senior ministry official said, "The Rail Budget is likely to be presented on July 8. The ministry is preparing a status report to be presented before the Railway Minister. The report is to be submitted in a day or two and after that the budget outline will be drawn by the minister.”

On Monday, the 15th Lok Sabha had a smooth start. Government showed the clearance of its first test of electing the Speaker, without any objections as it was expected an affair to be done unanimously on Wednesday.

While Pawan Kumar Bansal, Parliamentary Affairs Minister was busy setting the nomination papers to be filed in favour of Meira Kumar for Speaker the other 330 members took their oath of allegiance to the Constitution in an orderly manner.

Before commencing the first sitting of the Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed the mood of having “new beginning” that will allow “Parliament to run smoothly” and expected that “dialogue, discussion and reason would prevail in the proceedings.” Manmohan also promised to give due respect to the opposition.

On Monday all the Ministers who are members of the Lok Sabha took their oath except Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee. The oath ceremony was administered in alphabetical order state wise to other members. At the end of the day the MPs from Punjab took the oath and the list will start from Rajasthan on Tuesday. Remaining members who could not take the oath on Monday will complete the formalities on Tuesday.

For the unanimous election of the Speaker, nomination papers were set by the Government to be signed by the leaders of different political parties, in favour of Ms. Kumar, including those in the opposition. Different sets of nomination papers will be signed by each of the ruling collaborating partners as well as those of the opposition.

On Tuesday the nomination forms will be submitted between 10 a.m. to 12 noon to P.D.T. Achary, Secretary-General of the Lok Sabha.

Former party Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu strongly defending BJP leader LK Advani after BJP's humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha elections has said that different states behaved separately and the party's performance had nothing to do with the leader “alone”.

Naidu said, “ There are various reasons...Different states behaved in different manner. It is not about leaders alone.”

Naidu also said that no individual in the party can be held responsible for the party's performance and therefore Advani cannot be held responsible.

The former party Vice-President said, “ Of Advaniji there is no comparison in this country. There were local factors. If Advani is rejected or Manmohan Singh is accepted, there has to be uniform trend across the country, small, minor exceptions. That is not the case. You have seen good results in number of states.”

Naidu described Advani's image to that of a decisive leader and termed as "propaganda by some of our opponents.”

He also rubbished the suggestions that Advani's image as a hardliner worked against the party.

"Whoever knows Advani, they all know that he is a nationalist to the core. He thinks of the entire nation, not about any section."

Meira Kumar, daughter of late former Deputy Prime Minister and veteran Dalit leader Jagjivan Ram is now ready to become the first woman Lok Sabha Speaker with the support of Congress.

On Sunday Meira resigned as Union Water Resources Minister two days after taking the charge, as Congress choosed her as the partycandidate for the position of Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh immediately forwarded her resignation to President Pratibha Patil for acceptance.

According to a spokesperson at the Rashtrapati Bhawan, the resignation of Meira got accepted by the President to hold the position of the Lok Sabha Speaker.

The first session of the 15th Lok Sabha is all set to begin on Monday, as the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is ready to start a new innings and the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) would play the role of a opposition.

The session will commence with the formal swearing of 543 newly elected MP's. The first two days of this session have been kept for newly elected MPs to take the oath followed by the election of the speaker on June 3 and President Pratibha Patil's address to a joint session of Parliament on Thursday.

On Sunday, the BJP said it would play the role of a “constructive speaker”.

The BJP Vice-President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told mediapersons, "We will sit in the opposition and play the role of a constructive opposition.”

On Saturday, the President Pratibha Patil's address to the joint session of Parliament next week was finalised here at the first meeting of the cabinet after it was expanded on Thursday. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh chaired the meeting.

The first session of the 15th Lok Sabha will begin Monday with the swearing in of the newly elected MPs. The speaker will be elected June 3, and the president will address a joint session of both houses on June 4.

President Pratibha Patil's address was extensively worked on by Manmohan Singh. It will unveil the Government's agenda for the year in tune with the policies and programmes of the ruling party and its allies.

The prime minister has already promised a 100-day action plan for his government and is expected to give emphasis to the United Progressive Alliance's unfinished agenda, especially in the infrastructure and development sectors, and announce a fresh stimulus package to pull the economy out of its present slowdown.

According to the sources, a National Food Security Act to guarantee 25 kg of rice or wheat a month to impoverished families, strengthening of key social sector programmes like the rural employment and Bharat Nirman programnmes, a focus on terrorism and initiatives for urban employment will figure prominently in the president's speech.

There will be a debate June 5, 8 and 9 on the President's address after which the Lok Sabha, as also the Rajya Sabha that will convene June 4, will pass a motion of thanks before adjourning.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet his jumbo cabinet to discuss the President Pratibha Patil's speech to be delivered at the first session of the 15th Lok Sabha.

The Prime Minister at his residence in 7 Race Course in New Delhi will meet his full cabinet of 78 ministers at 11.30 am. The main motive of this meeting is to discuss the speech of the President to be delivered at the first session of the 15th Lok Sabha.

It is to be noted that Article 87(1) of the Constitution provides, "At the commencement of the first session after each general election to the House of the People and at the commencement of the first session of each year the President shall address both Houses of Parliament assembled together and inform Parliament of the causes of its summons."

After each general election to the Lok Sabha, the President addresses both the Houses of the Parliament assembled together after all the newly elected Members have taken the oath and the Speaker has been elected. Generally, it takes around two days to complete these preliminaries. No other work is undertaken till the President has addressed both Houses of the Parliament assembled together. In her speech, the President informs Parliament of the causes of its summons.

From June 1-9 the first session of the newly elected 15th Lok Sabha will be held and it will have seven sittings.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram told mediapersons, ‘The union cabinetdecided to recommend to the president the convening of the parliamentsession from June 1 onwards for seven sittings.”

The first session of the Parliament will be held after the swearing-in of the newly elected Lok Sabha members on first two days.

The speaker will be elected on June 3. The joint session of the Parliament in Central Hall will be addressed by the President on June 4. The Motion of Thanks on the President's speech will be taken up on June 5, 8 and 9, after which the session of the Lok Sabha will conclude.

The UPA-led Congress Government under the ministership of the PM Manmohan Singh has taken charge and organisations like Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) are set to sugget the Government on what has to be focused in the next 100 days.

Both CII and FICCI expects the Government to invest money into the economy and also want the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) to reduce the interest rates at least by half a per cent.

Venu Srinivasan, CII President said, "We would like to see the fiscal deficit coming down in next budget particularly revenue deficit so that money is available for capital infrastructure. We would also like to see monetisation happening."

Harsh Pati Singhania, FICCI President also said,"The 100 days aresignificant because it is an important signal not only to what happens to our Indian economy but to see how the world sees us... that we mean action and thus attract capital."

The trade bodies wants the Government to spend more on the infastructure as the growth of the infrastructure has become stagnant in the last five year. The world class roads, ports, airports, power stations around the country and special incentives for low cost housing are also expected by the industry.

On Thursday, the Union Cabinet was expanded with the swearing-in of 59 ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. 14 cabinet ministers, 7 ministers of state with independent charge and 38 ministers of state were administered the oath of office by the President Pratibha Patil.

In the first round of inductions into the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's council of ministers on May 22, 19 cabinet ministers had been sworn in. Now, there are altogether 78 ministers in the Government excluding the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's next round of cabinet expansion will take place on Thursday at 11.30 am.

As many as 59 ministers will be sworn-in, taking the overall tally to 78 ministers in the Congress Government.

Since the government can have 81 ministers in the cabinet (including the PM), six berths will be available for the future portfolio demand.

The full team of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is all set to take charge on Thursday. The list of ministers prepared after continuous discussion of three days, includes the names of 14 ministers of Cabinet rank and 45 ministers of state.

The 14 cabinet ministers will include former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh, former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah, Dayanidhi Maran, M.K. Azhagari and A.Raja of the DMK. The other ministers will be Mallikarjun Kharge, Kumari Selja, Subodh Kant Sahay, M.S. Gill, G.K. Vasan, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Mukul Wasnik and Kantilal Bhuria.

The 45 other ministers of the state are Praful Patel, Prithviraj Chauhan, Sriprakash Jaiswal, Salman Khursheed, Dinsha Patel, Jairam Ramesh, Krishna Tirath, E Ahamed, V. Narayanasamy, Srikant Jena, Mullappally Ramachandran, D. Purandeswari, Panabaka Lakshmi, Ajay Maken, K.H. Muniyappa, Namo Narain Meena, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasad, A. Sai Prathap, Gurudas Kamat, M.M. Pallam Raju, Mahadev Khandela, Harish Rawat, K.V. Thomas, Saugata Ray, Dinesh Trivedi, Sisir Adhikari, Sultan Ahmed, Mukul Roy, Mohan Jatua, S.S. Palanimanickam, D. Napoleon, S. Jagathrakshakan, S. Gandhiselvan, Preneet Kaur, Sachin Pilot, Shashi Tharoor, Bharatsinh Solanki, Tusharbhai Chaudhary, Arun Yadav, Prateek Prakashbapu Patil, R.P.N. Singh, Vincent Pala, Pradeep Jain and Agatha Sangma.

The Congress party in a meeting at 10, Janpath in New Delhi on Wednesday is expected to finalise a plan regarding the allotment of portfolios to the ministers.

On Thursday at 11.30 am, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's cabinet will be expanded but still the party leaders are brooding over the distribution of portfolios in an effort to keep its allies satisfied.

According to the sources, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and senior leader Ahmad Patel met on Tuesday night and almost finalized the list of ministers. The final decision on the list of ministries will be taken at Sonia Gandhi's residence on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Finance Minister Pranab mukherjee said that the budget for the year 2009-10 will be presented in the first week of July, showing the policies and priorities of the new UPA Government.

While talking to mediapersons, Pranab said, "I would not like to have a second batch of vote on account... the budget will be presented in the first week of July." He further said that the problems regarding the economy raised by him in the interim budget will also be addressed in the budget, specially those sectors that are strongly affected by the global financial crisis.

The budget is required to be passed by July 31, by the Government and if the budget doesn't gets approved before July 31, another vote on account will be seeked by the Government.