Hyderabad: A day before Parliament’s Winter Session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not attend an all-party meeting scheduled by his government on Sunday.
This winter session holds importance as the opposition is likely to discuss Pegasus spyware, the issue of Maximum support price (MSP) and other new bills of significance.
On behalf of the government, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal were present. An all-party meeting was called by the Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi on Sunday ahead of the winter session of Parliament.
The BJP-led government has a heavy agenda for the winter session with its legislative business including 26 new bills.
The winter session will commence on November 29 and is scheduled to conclude on December 23.
Aam Aadmi Party boycotts all-party meeting
Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh on Sunday boycotted the all-party meeting alleging that the government never allows anyone to speak during the meet.
“They (Government) don’t let any member speak during the all-party meeting. I raised the issue of bringing a law on the MSP guarantee in this session of the Parliament and other issues including the extension of Border Security Force’s jurisdiction, among others. They don’t let us speak in all-party meet and Parliament,” said Singh.
“The government is busy with Jinnah and other issues, ignoring the core issues related to farmers and common man,” he added.
What is the all-party meeting?
All party meeting is convened to ensure smooth functioning of the House ahead of the commencement of the actual Parliament session.
The winter session of the parliament will commence on November 29 (Monday) and is scheduled to conclude on December 23 (Thursday).
The national government is expected to introduce The Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021 — all-important drafting legislation to remove the three contentious agricultural laws that sparked year-long protests by farmers’ groups at Delhi’s border crossings – on the first day of the 17th Lok Sabha’s seventh session.
Opposition parties attending all-party meeting
Among the main opposition figures who attended the all-party meeting were- Mallikarjun Kharge, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, and Anand Sharma of the Congress, TR Baalu and Tiruchi Siva of the DMK, Sharad Pawar of the NCP, Vinayak Raut of the Shiv Sena, Ramgopal Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, Satish Mishra of the BSP, Prasanna Acharya of the BJD, and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah.
(With inputs from ANI)