TMC not to attend all-party meeting, accuses Centre of bad planning

The Trinamool Congress Party (TMC) on Sunday categorically said that it would not attend the all-party meeting called this evening ahead of the upcoming Winter Session of Parliament and alleged that it was bad planning on the Centre's part.

"The minister had promised on this controversial UPSC language issue, that an all party meeting would be called before the Winter Session of Parliament. Now, all these weeks and months he hasn't called a meeting. Now, today on Sunday just before the Parliament starts, again a meeting has been called on Sunday," TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien told ANI here.

"So many weeks and so many months you do not do any work, suddenly you remember you have to call a meeting. What is the BJP trying to do?" he asked.

O'Brien alleged that either the government is very nervous before the new Session of Parliament or they are trying to show the world that they work on Sundays as well.

"They work on Sundays and they are working so hard for the nation. We also work on Sunday; we also work 16, 18 hours a day. This is bad planning," he added.

The month-long Winter Session will have a total of 22 sittings in which four days have been earmarked for Private Members' business.

A total of 67 bills -- 59 in Rajya Sabha and eight in Lok Sabha-are pending and the government will push for passage of "at least 30 to 35" legislations, a senior minister said.

This will be the second major session since the Narendra Modi Government took over in May.

The government has already declared that it would go ahead with reform legislations like insurance bill in the Winter Session.