All parties agreed to cooperate in parliament: Sumitra Mahajan

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan today said that all parties have agreed to cooperate with the government during the upcoming Budget Session.

"The meeting was good and everybody has agreed to cooperate with us. They (members) have said that they want discussions. The government has agreed for discussions, as it wants to take everybody onboard in all decisions," said Mahajan after the all party meet.

"This meeting was aimed at discussing the business of parliament and the issues that will be discussed during the session. The issues of the members were addressed and their suggestions were considered," she added.

She asserted that the main focus of Budget Session will be on the Rail Budget and General Budget, which will be presented before the parliament.

"The General Budget has to be passed before July 31," she added.

Mahajan, however, said that the issue of Leader of Opposition post was not discussed in the meeting.

Earlier, Mahajan had called an all party meeting ahead of the budget session.

The issue of whether there should be a Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha was expected to be discussed during the meeting.

The Congress and its allies have contended that they have the second highest number of 59 MPs in the parliament, which makes them eligible for the post.

The BJP has said that the Congress will only be embarrassed if they go to court to raise its demand to be assigned the post of the LoP as they do not have the required number of seats.

The Congress defended itself saying that said that there is no hard and fast rule for gaining 10 percent of the total strength of the 543 member of the Lok Sabha to claim the post of LoP.