Modi to convene meeting of opposition leaders ahead of Budget session
‘He will seek their cooperation to run the Houses smoothly.’
New Delhi:
Reaching out to the opposition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be convening a meeting of leaders of major political parties on Tuesday to seek their cooperation for the smooth functioning of Parliament in the Budget session beginning next week.
Modi has invited leaders of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha of major political parties tomorrow morning, sources in the government said.
They maintained that it is not an all-party meeting and the bills the government seeks to introduce or pass in the session will not be discussed.
-"He will seek their cooperation to run the Houses smoothly,-" a government functionary said.
The meeting comes close on the heels of the Prime Minister accusing Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party Vice President Rahul Gandhi on various occasions of disrupting Parliament to avenge defeat in 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
The Congress chief had hit back at Modi, saying efforts were made to -"suppress her party's voice-" whenever it tried to raise issues concerning the poor and common man in the House.
Senior ministers have often accused the top Congress leadership of scuttling plans to pass the GST bill in Parliament. The bill is pending in Rajya Sabha.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has accused the Modi government of not engaging Congress seriously to break the logjam over GST.