NDA leaders to meet on Nov 24 to discuss Winter Session

NDA leaders will meet on Tuesday to brainstorm the ruling alliance strategy in Parliament, a day before Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has called an all-party meeting on November 25 to discuss the smooth functioning of Winter Session.

Sources say the government could also hold a separate meeting of all parties on Wednesday to reach out to the Opposition for passage of key pending bills including GST, amid indications of a stormy session with the Opposition parties closing ranks against the government on various issues.

The NDA meeting on Tuesday was earlier scheduled to take place on November 18 but was cancelled following the death of VHP leader Ashok Singhal.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu will meet the leaders of all NDA allies to discuss the ruling combine's strategy to push its legislative business and pass the key bills with proper floor coordination.

The Winter Session will begin on November 26 and end on December 23. This is the first Parliamentary session after NDA's debacle in Bihar elections, which has led to some sort of consolidation of the anti-BJP forces on the political arena.

A special two-day sitting of Parliament has been called on the first two days of the session to commemorate the adoption of Indian Constitution on November 26, 1949, and honour its architect, dalit icon B R Ambedkar.

Opposition may not be inclined to disrupt Parliament for the first two days keeping in view the sensitivity about Ambedkar and the seriousness of the issue.

However, Opposition is likely to raise the issue of intolerance, award wapsi, Dadri lynching, price rise and Centre-State relations in a big way as the legislative business of the House begins from November 30.

The Monsson Session of the Parliament was a near wash out and the government could not carry forward its legislative agenda. The Opposition, led by Congress, had cornered the government demanding the resignations of Swaraj and Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje in the Lalit Modi controversy and Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the Vyapam scam.

The government, however, had rejected the resignation demands asking for a debate on the issues.

Sources said there are eight pending bills in Lok Sabha and 11 in Rajya Sabha. Key pending bills include the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Land Bill, which is pending before a Joint Committee of Parliament.