Jan 30, 2023

An all-party meeting called by the government ahead of the Budget Session of Parliament commenced on Jan. 30.Deputy Leader of the House, Rajnath Singh, Parliament Affairs minister, Pralhad Joshi, Leader of the House, Piyush Goyal, MoS, Parliamentary Affairs, Arjuna, Ram Meghwal, and V Muraleedharan were among those present for the meeting held at the Parliament house Complex.All top leaders from the 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.Other party leaders who were present include Thambidurai and OP Ravindhranath from AIADMK, Vijayasai Reddy from YSR Congress, Farooq Abdullah from the National Conference, Professor Manoj Jha from the RJD and Ram Nath Thakur of JDU. Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) was represented by Priyanka Chaturvedi.Congress leaders were absent in the meeting, however, according to government sources both Mallikarjun Kharge and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury held up due to the ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra that culminated in Srinagar on Jan. 30.The all-party meeting is a customary meeting that takes place ahead, of the start of every session of Parliament.During the meeting the Government sought cooperation from all political parties to ensure the smooth functioning of both Houses of Parliament during the Session.The Budget Session of Parliament will commence on January 31 with the address by the President of India to a Joint sitting of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in the Central Hall of Parliament.