The Centre on Friday reached out to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi seeking support from the principal Opposition grouping as also her party, Congress, for the smooth functioning of the Parliament Session beginning June 17. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi accompanied by Union Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Arjun Ram Meghwal called on Sonia who was elected as Congress Parliamentary Party chief last week by the party leaders.
“Our meeting with Sonia Gandhi was very cordial. We sought her cooperation for the smooth functioning of Parliament. She said they (Opposition) also need cooperation from treasury benches. I told her that the Government has always been ready to cooperate,” Joshi told reporters after the meeting at Sonia’s residence. The session, the first of the 17th Lok Sabha, will go on till July 26 and the budget will be tabled on July 5.
Joshi’s visit to Sonia Gandhi’s residence is part of the Government’s exercise to reach out to the Opposition. The meeting lasted around 15 minutes, sources said. Joshi also had met Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and DMK’s leader of house in the Lok Sabha TR Baalu.
The Congress is yet to name Leader of the party in Lok Sabha as the grand old party is still devoid of the status of Leader of Opposition for second time in a row in the Lok Sabha since the party did not secured the requisite numbers (55 MPs of a party). In the 2014 General elections it got 44 while in the latest it got 52.
“We are meeting all the Opposition leaders to request for their party’s cooperation and smooth functioning of the Parliament,” Tomar said. Others who have made efforts to meet Opposition members includes Minister of State V Muraleedharan. The Congress sources said the Government has convened an all-party meeting in the Parliament on June 16, a day ahead of the start of the Lok Sabha session, where it will seek the cooperation of all political parties to ensure a smooth session.
The first session of the newly-elected Lok Sabha will be convened from June 17 to July 26 and the new government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will present its first Budget on July 5. The 40-day session will have 30 sittings.
Besides presentation of the budget, the Government is planning to convert into law 10 new ordinances, including the one to ban the practice of instant triple talaq. The ordinances were issued in February-March this year by the previous Government. After the new MPs take oath on the first two days, the Lok Sabha Speaker’s election is scheduled for June 19. President Ram Nath Kovind will address a joint sitting of both houses of Parliament on June 20.