New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend an all-party meeting that has been called by the centre today, a day before the monsoon session of Parliament begins.
The meeting, called by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, will seek the cooperation of the opposition to run the session smoothly.
The government, which plans to bring in 30 bills, maintains that it is ready to discuss all issues.
Inflation, the government’s handling of the second Covid wave is likely to be brought up by opposition leaders during the monsoon session. The Congress’s Rahul Gandhi, among other leaders, has been relentlessly criticising the government over its Covid management.
A meeting of the Executive Committee of the BJP Parliamentary Party and the NDA Parliamentary Party will also be held today.
Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday urged members of Parliament to stand by people amid the pandemic and discuss all issues related to it in the House to address the concerns of the citizens.
“A dysfunctional Parliament adds to the prevailing gloom and hence, all sections of the House should ensure a smooth and productive session as it offers an opportunity to address the concerns of the people affected by COVID-19,” Mr Naidu said after chairing a meeting of leaders of various parties and groups in the Rajya Sabha.
Leaders of 20 parties spoke in the meeting and made various suggestions. They also sought the cooperation of the government in taking up various issues of wider public concern.
Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will hold the sessions simultaneously with minimum presence of officials, staff and media to ensure social distancing. The timing will be usual – 11 am to 6 pm – with both zero hour and question hour included, officials said.
The monsoon session of parliament will run from July 19 to August 13. Since the pandemic began, three sessions of Parliament were curtailed while the winter session last year had to be cancelled.