All-party meet convened by govt ahead of Parliament session gets underway

An all-party meeting convened by the government ahead of Parliament’s Monsoon Session began on Sunday morning with leaders from various political parties, including BJP president J P Nadda, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi and Union minister and LJP (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan attending it.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, who will put forth the government’s view, were also present.

Besides, Congress’ Jairam Ramesh and K Suresh, as also Asaduddin Owaisi of AIMIM, RJD’s Abhay Kushwaha, JD(U) Sanjay Jha, AAP’s Sanjay Singh, SP leader Ramgopal Yadav and NCP’s Praful Patel were present at the customary meet.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget on Tuesday during the session beginning Monday.

A united opposition is set to corner the NDA government on issues ranging from the NEET paper leak case and railway safety.

The session begins on Monday and will have 19 sittings till August 12 when the government is expected to present six bills, including the one to replace the 90-year-old Aircraft Act, and also get Parliament’s nod for the budget of Jammu and Kashmir, which is under central rule.

Sitharaman will also table the Economic Survey in Parliament on Monday.