New Delhi: The Union government on Monday called an all-party meeting, a day ahead of the start of the Budget Session of Parliament. The customary meeting, called by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, was held in Parliament Annexe Building.
Deputy Leader of the House, Rajnath Singh, Leader of the House, Piyush Goyal, MoS, Parliamentary Affairs, Arjuna, Ram Meghwal, and V Muraleedharan were among those present for the meeting.
According to news agency ANI, opposition parties including DMK leader TR, Balu, TMC leaders Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Sukhendu Sekhar Ray, TRS leaders K Keshava Rao and Nama Nageswara Rao were in attendance.
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Other party leaders who were present include Vijayasai Reddy from YSR Congress, Farooq Abdullah from the National Conference, Professor Manoj Jha from the RJD, and Ram Nath Thakur of JDU.
Priyanka Chaturvedi represented Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray).
Notably, Congress leaders were absent from the meeting as both Mallikarjun Kharge and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury are in Srinagar for the culmination of the Bharat Jodo Yatra today.
During the meeting, the government is expected to seek cooperation from all parties for the smooth running of Parliament.
Opposition parties are expected to raise matters of concern during the meeting and also highlight issues they plan to raise during the session.
In the afternoon, a meeting of NDA floor leaders will also be held to strategise floor cooperation. The Budget Session will be held in two parts.
The session will begin with President Droupadi Murmu's address to the joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament. Economic Survey will be tabled after the President's address.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget on February 1. The Union Budget 2023-24 may be the last full budget before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The first part of the session will be held from January 31 and will go on till February 13.