New Delhi, Mar 21 (IANS): The Rajya Sabha Thursday returned to the Lok Sabha the appropriation bill after members decided to submit their speeches to the house, skipping a debate on account of paucity of time.
"With a heavy heart, I lay my speech (on the table of the house). The budget should be discussed threadbare, it is government's failure that is creating this situation... We are setting a bad precedent here," Bharatiya Janata Party leader M. Venkaiah Naidu, who had initiated the debate on the general budget in the upper house, said.
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, however, assured the house that he would go through all speeches submitted by the members and prepare a reply and circulate it.
The appropriation bill enables the government to draw funds from the Consolidated Fund of India to meet its expenditure till the finance bill is passed.