New Delhi: Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has announced that her party will boycott President Ram Nath Kovind’s address to a joint sitting of the two houses of Parliament on Friday, the first day of the budget session, to protest against the three farm laws.

Taking to Twitter, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati urged the central government not to make the farmers’ leaders “scapegoats” for the violence that took place in Delhi during the tractor rally on Republic Day.

“In protest against not accepting the demand of agitating farmers for withdrawal of the three disputed agricultural laws, and also in the matter of public interest, it has been decided to boycott the President’s address to Parliament today,” Mayawati said (Translated from Hindi).

“It is requested to the central government to not make innocent farmers’ leaders scapegoats under the pretext of riots on Republic Day. It is also requested from the central government to normalise the situation in Delhi by withdrawing agricultural laws. There is also a lot of truth in the objection of BKU and other leaders of UP in this matter. The government should pay attention,” she added.

A total of 16 political parties including–Congress, NCP, J-K National Conference, DMK, AITC, Shiv Sena, Samajwadi Party, RJD, CPI (M), CPI, IUML, RSP, PDP, MDMK, Kerala Congress (M) and AIUDF– in a joint statement on Thursday announced that they will boycott the President’s address in the Parliament to register their protest against the three farm laws.

Apart from these 16 parties, AAP and SAD have also announced that they will also boycott the President’s address.

The Budget Session will begin today with an address by President Ram Nath Kovind to Parliament.

The first part of the session will continue till February 15. The second part of the session will be held from March 8 to April 8.

Rajya Sabha will function from 9 am to 2 pm and Lok Sabha from 4 pm to 9 pm with Zero Hour and Question Hour.

Members of Parliament have been requested to undergo an RT-PCR test against COVID-19 before the start of the Budget session.