Opposition pushes for women's quota Bill at all-party meeting

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the special session of Parliament, the government on Sunday called a customary all-party meeting to brief floor leaders of different parties and hear their views ahead of the session.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, the deputy leader of the House in Lok Sabha; Union Minister Piyush Goyal, the leader of the House in Rajya Sabha and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi represented the government in the meeting. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former Prime Minister and JD(S) leader H.D. Deve Gowda, DMK's Kanimozhi, TDP's Ram Mohan Naidu, TMC's Derek O'Brien, AAP's Sanjay Singh, BJD's Sasmit Patra, BRS' K. Keshava Rao, YSR Congress Party's V. Vijayasai Reddy, RJD's Manoj Jha, JD(U)'s Anil Hegde and SP's Ram Gopal Yadav were among those who attended the meeting.

It is learnt that during the meeting, national parties like the Congress and regional parties such as the BJD and the BRS pushed for the tabling of the Women’s Reservation Bill in the special session.

At the all-party meeting, Congress MP Pramod Tiwari said his party plans to raise issues raised by senior leader Sonia Gandhi in her letter to the Prime Minister during the special session. These issues include price rise, unemployment, social conflicts, the farmer's issue and the Manipur situation. Even the BJP's ally, the breakaway faction of the NCP, supported the Women’s Reservation Bill.

"All Opposition parties demanded passage of the Women's Reservation Bill in this Parliament session," said Mr Chowdhury after the all-party meeting.

On Monday morning, the leaders of the Opposition bloc will meet to discuss their floor strategy and ways to counter the government in the two Houses.

The all-party meeting took place hours after vice-president and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar unfurled the national flag in the new Parliament building. The regular functioning of the new Parliament building will begin on Tuesday, the day of Ganesh Chaturthi. Members of all parties, including Mr Chowdhury, attended the flag-hoisting event.

Various departments of parliamentary staff are all set to don new uniforms in a signal from the government that the shift to the new building is likely to be marked with a fresh start in more ways than one.

The special session of Parliament is set to begin on Monday amid intense buzz on whether the government will have some surprise item up its sleeve during the five-day sitting that will see a discussion on Parliament's 75-year journey and take up for consideration four bills, including one on the appointment of election commissioners. The unusual timing of the session has left everyone wondering, even though the main standout feature on the listed agenda is a special discussion on Parliament's journey of 75 years starting from the "Samvidhan Sabha" (Constituent Assembly).

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh had recently said the government could bring up some "legislative grenades" during the special session.

Besides the discussion on the parliamentary journey of 75 years scheduled for September 18, the other listed business for the Lok Sabha includes the Advocates (Amendment) Bill 2023 and the Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill 2023. Both bills were already passed by the Rajya Sabha on August 3.

In addition, the Post Office Bill 2023 has also been listed in Lok Sabha business, according to an official bulletin. The bill was earlier introduced in the Rajya Sabha on August 10.