Bisheshwar Mishra / NEW DELHI
All-party meeting called by the government ahead of Monsoon session of Parliament beginning tomorrow was held in New Delhi today. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, Congress MPs Mallikarjun Kharge and Jairam Ramesh, TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Rashtriya Lok Dal MP Jayant Chaudhary, DMK MP Tiruchi Siva and others attended the meeting.
The meeting was convened to seek cooperation from all political parties for smooth conduct of both the Houses of Parliament.
Briefing media after the meeting, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said members of 35 political parties took part in the meeting. He said, the issues like revision to list of unparliamentary words, and ban on demonstrations came up during the meeting. Mr Joshi alleged that Congress is trying to make issues out of non issues.
Several opposition leaders after the meeting said, they raised the issues of price rise, the unparliamentary words controversy and the demand for withdrawal of the Agnipath recruitment scheme to be raised during the Monsoon session.
Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu has also called a meeting of floor leaders of different parties in the Upper House. Yesterday, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla chaired an all party meeting with the floor leaders of the various parties in the Lower House.
During the meeting, the leaders of political parties assured the Lok Sabha Speaker of their full cooperation to ensure smooth conduct of the House during the session.
The Monsoon Session of Parliament which will begin tomorrow will continue till 12th of August. There will be 18 sittings during the Session.
This session is important given the fact that the Presidential Election and the Vice Presidential Election will be held during this period. The Presidential Election will also be held on Monday while the Vice Presidential election will be held on the 6th of next month.
Price rise, Agneepath scheme and unemployment are some of the issues which are likely to be raised by the Opposition during the Monsoon session.
Various Bills including Family Courts (Amendment) Bill, Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill are likely to be taken up in the session.