A day ahead of the commencement of Parliament's Winter Session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, 28 November, did not attend an all-party meeting called by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party government.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal were present for the interaction, NDTV reported. 42 leaders belonging to 31 parties were part of the discussions on Sunday.
Speaking to news agency ANI, leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge brought up apprehensions regarding the recently revoked agricultural laws.
"We expected PM to attend the meet today. But for some reason, he didn't attend it. While government has withdrawn farm laws, PM had said that he couldn't make farmers understand. It means that these laws may be brought back in some other form in future."Mallikarjun Kharge
Speaking on the subjects discussed during the meet, Kharge said that issues such an inflation, fuel price hike, COVID-19, and farmers' concerns were deliberated on, and the parties furthered the demand for legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for farmers.
"We demanded that families of COVID-19 victims be given compensation of Rs 4 lakhs each. Compensation should also be given to farmers who lost their lives during the farm laws protest," Kharge added.
While the Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi stated and 'constructive discussions' were held, AAP leader Sanjay Singh staged a walkout from the meet. He claimed that he was not allowed to speak during the all-party gathering.
"I raised the issue of bringing law on MSP guarantee in this session of the Parliament and other issues including the extension of BSF's jurisdiction," Singh said, according to NDTV.
Later in the day, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also addressed the meet and said that the government aims for healthy discussion in Parliament, ANI reported.
Compensation for Farmers, Caste Census, MSP Among Issues Raised by Opposition
Meanwhile, following the meet, YSR Congress (YSRCP) MP V Vijayasai Reddy said that the party brought up issues such as caste census, compensation to kin of farmers who lost their lives during the year-long protests against the farm laws, and MSP guarantee.
"The Centre has so far given MSP on 23 commodities. YSR Congress Party wants extension of MSP regime to include marine and poultry products. We have also demanded a socio-economic caste census," Reddy said.
(With inputs from ANI and NDTV.)
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