Govt reaches out to Sonia Gandhi ahead of Parliament session

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Friday met Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi, seeking her party's cooperation for smooth functioning of the Parliament session beginning June 17.

"Our meeting with Sonia Gandhi was very cordial. We sought her cooperation for the smooth functioning of Parliament. She said they (opposition) also need cooperation from treasury benches. I told her that the government has always been ready to cooperate," Joshi told reporters after the meeting at her residence.

He was accompanied by Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Arjun Ram Meghwal.

Ahead of the Parliament session, the Cabinet committee on parliamentary affairs is likely to meet on Friday evening at Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's residence. Singh will head the meeting of the committee, whose members include Home Minister Amit Shah.

The session, the first of the 17th Lok Sabha, will go on till July 26 and the budget will be tabled on July 5.

Joshi's visit to Gandhi's residence is part of the government's exercise to reach out to the opposition. The meeting lasted around 15 minutes, sources said.

Joshi has also met Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and DMK's leader of house in the Lok Sabha T R Baalu.

Besides presentation of the budget, the government is planning to convert into law 10 new ordinances, including the one to ban the practice of instant triple talaq.

The ordinances were issued in February-March this year by the previous government.

After the new MPs take oath on the first two days, the Lok Sabha Speaker's election is scheduled for June 19. President Ram Nath Kovind will address a joint sitting of both houses of Parliament on June 20.