New Delhi: The Parliament session is going to start from tomorrow. In this, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the budget on Tuesday. Like every time, an all-party meeting was called today before the Parliament session. Leaders of various parties participated in the meeting chaired by Union Minister Rajnath Singh and placed their demands. In the meeting, Congress raised the issues of NEET and other national importance along with giving the post of Deputy Speaker in Lok Sabha to the opposition. At the same time, some regional parties demanded special status to their state.
Union Minister Rajnath Singh, Health Minister JP Nadda, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State for Law Arjun Ram Meghwal and other senior leaders of opposition parties attended the meeting. According to sources, Congress raised the issue of Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha in the meeting. The party demanded that the post of Deputy Speaker should be given to the opposition.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, while talking to journalists after the long all-party meeting, said that 44 parties were represented in the meeting. 55 leaders of these parties participated. In the meeting, the views of all the parties were known in detail and their suggestions were taken. An appeal was made to everyone to run the budget session smoothly. He said that the responsibility of running the Parliament smoothly is also of the opposition along with the government. He said that the opposition and other parties put forward their demands on many subjects. These subjects will be considered in the Business Advisory Committee to include them after discussing with the Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha Chairman.
Rijiju said that Union Minister Rajnath Singh appealed in the meeting that we are all committed to strengthen democracy. He appeals to everyone that during the proceedings of Parliament, leaders should not be disturbed while putting forth their views. He said that the disruptions created in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in the reply to the motion of thanks given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the President’s address are not good for our parliamentary tradition. The country and the Parliament should listen to the leader of the House.
After the meeting, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on X that the issue of granting special state status to Bihar and Odisha came up in the meeting. The JDU leader demanded special state status for Bihar. The YSRCP leader demanded special state status for Andhra Pradesh. Surprisingly, the Telugu Desam Party leader remained silent on the matter.
Congress leader Ramesh said that the all-party meeting demanded that 24 department-related standing committees be formed and given due importance. Consultative committees should be revived where MPs can interact with the concerned ministers. Apart from this, the demand was made that the Central Hall should be opened once again for MPs so that they can meet with each other and improve communication between the parties. The historic Central Hall has unfortunately become unusable after the inauguration of the new Parliament building.
Along with this, in the all-party meeting, the Congress demanded that the post of Deputy Speaker be given to the opposition. Apart from this, the party also demanded a discussion on the NEET issue.
Biju Janata Dal leader Sasmit Patra, while talking to journalists, said that Odisha has been deprived of special status for more than two decades. BJD has demanded this. Also, the party is united with other states making such demands. A similar demand was also made by YSR Congress Party leaders for Andhra Pradesh. Apart from this, JDU also demanded special state status for Bihar.
AAP party leader Sanjay Singh said that his party raised the issue of misuse of investigation agencies and he said that the biggest sufferer of this is the Aam Aadmi Party. The demonic power given to PMLA should be withdrawn. He said that Delhi pays so much tax but Delhi does not get Rs 325 crore more.
AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi said that the issue of the Uttar Pradesh government’s name disclosure order was raised in the meeting. This unconstitutional decision should be withdrawn. Apart from this, the issue of filing a case against those who raise the flag of Palestine was also raised.
