Ahead of the Parliament Session, the government reached out to the principal opposition party with the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and two other ministers meeting Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi to seek her party’s cooperation for the smooth functioning of the session beginning June 17.
Sonia, on her part, is believed to have told the ministers that the Opposition, too, needs equal cooperation from the Treasury Benches.
The Parliamentary Affairs Minister, who is among the senior-most members of the Lok Sabha in the BJP, described his meeting with Sonia as “extremely cordial”. He, along with his colleagues Narendra Singh Tomar and Arjun Ram Meghwal, visited her residence at 10.00 am.
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 said.
Ahead of the Parliament session, the Cabinet committee on parliamentary affairs is likely to meet on Friday evening at Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s residence. Singh will head the meeting of the committee, whose members include Home Minister Amit Shah.
The first session of the 17 Lok Sabha will begin on June 17. The date was fixed with the summoning of the House and approved by the Union Cabinet. The Session is expected to conclude on July 26.
The Rajya Sabha will be convened on June 20. The President will be requested to address both the Houses of Parliament assembled together in the Central Hall of Parliament on June 20 at 11 am in term of article 87(1) of the Constitution.
The Speaker will be elected on June 19.. The Union Budget for 2019-20 will be presented in the Lok Sabha on July 5, 2019, at 11.00 am.
Joshi’s visit to 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 met Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and DMK’s leader of House in the Lok Sabha TR Baalu.
Besides the presentation of the Budget, the government is planning to convert 10 new Ordinances into law, including the one to ban the practice of instant triple talaq. The ordinances were issued in February-March this year by the previous government.