The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday issued a three-line whip to all its MPs of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, asking them to be present in the Parliament on Saturday as some important legislative business is to be discussed in both Houses.

"All BJP Members in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are hereby informed that some very important Legislative Business will be taken up for discussion and passing in the Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha on Saturday, February 10, 2024. All members of BJP in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are therefore requested to be positively present in the House throughout the day on Saturday, 10 February and support the Government stand," the whips said, which is issued for Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha separately.

The nearly 60-page White Paper was tabled in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha by Sitharaman on Thursday.

The White Paper said that the UPA government abandoned reforms after coming to power in 2004 and that it failed to build on the strong foundation laid by the previous BJP-led NDA government.

The White Paper said that there were scandals in defence that compromised defence preparedness and the government delayed the acquisition of weapons.

"In the UPA government, decision-making came to a standstill due to corruption and scandals in defence, compromising defence preparedness. The government delayed the acquisition of artillery and anti-aircraft guns, fighters, submarines, night fighting gear and a host of equipment upgrades," the report said.

The White Paper also referred to the "coal scam", saying the allocation of coal blocks was done on an "arbitrary basis".

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.