Monsoon session: Lok Sabha Speaker convenes all-party meet

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Monday chaired an all-party meeting ahead of the commencement of Monsoon session to work out a strategy to ensure the smooth functioning of the Parliament.

Monsoon session: Lok Sabha Speaker convenes all-party meet
Pic Courtesy: ANI

New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Monday chaired an all-party meeting ahead of the commencement of Monsoon session to work out a strategy to ensure the smooth functioning of the Parliament.

Earlier in the day, an all-party meet called by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu today ended in a deadlock over controversies related to Lalit Modi and Vyapam scam even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered to discuss all issues.

The government ruled out any resignations.

"There is no question of accepting ultimatum by anybody. From where did the question of resignation arise? Nobody can dictate terms to the government. From Government side, no Union Minister has done anything illegal or immoral," Naidu said.

Naidu said that the NDA Government has nothing to hide or fear in the upcoming Monsoon session and is ready to discuss every issue in the parliament.

"We have nothing to hide and nothing to fear. The Government is ready to discuss each and every issue as per the rules and precedents which were set up by the earlier Government and different regimes," said Naidu.

The Monsoon session of Parliament is expected to be a stormy affair as the Congress and many other opposition parties have joined hands to take on the BJP government over various issues including the Vyapam recruitment scam and the controversy over former IPL chief Lalit Modi.

Meanwhile, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has also called an all-party meet, which would be held later today.

Besides pressing for removal of Union ministers Sushma Swaraj and Smriti Irani, Opposition parties have indicated that they would raise the issue of scams and controversies allegedly involving BJP chief ministers - Shivraj Singh Chouhan of Madhya Pradesh, Vasundhara Raje of Rajasthan and Raman Singh of Chhattisgarh - and demand their resignations.

Significantly, PM Modi has called for the maiden meet of all NDA constituents today to chalk out a strategy to aggressively take on the opponents.

Sensing the Opposition heat awaiting his government in Parliament, Modi had acknowledged on Friday that there will be a 'muqabla' (contest).

Bracing for the Opposition onslaught in Parliament, government and the ruling BJP decided to aggressively counter the attack on its leaders like Swaraj, Raje and Chouhan and rake up controversies that involved some Congress leaders.

BJP president Amit Shah held strategy meetings with various party colleagues, including Union Ministers Arun Jaitley, Swaraj, Smriti Irani, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Piyush Goyal as well as party spokespersons during which Raje was also present.

Subsequently, Shah, along with Jaitley and other senior leaders and union ministers like Rajnath Singh and Naidu met PM Modi to fine-tune the strategy.

The government's floor managers conceded Monsoon Session could be stormy. In the last Lok Sabha, an entire session was washed out over the Opposition's demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee in the 2G scam.

While the BJP-led NDA commands an absolute majority in Lok Sabha, it lacks numbers in the Upper House where Congress is the largest party and holds key to the passage of the crucial legislations, including GST and land bill.

Senior NDA ministers had on Thursday held a meeting to chalk out the strategy for pushing the government's legislative business in view of the Opposition parties closing ranks on various issues.

The government has finalised 35 items of business for the Monsoon session, which included nine bills pending in Rajya Sabha and four pending in Lok Sabha, besides introduction of 11 new bills.

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