All Party Meet | PM Modi Absent As Oppn Targets Govt On MSP: All You Need To Know

An all-party meeting convened by the government ahead of the Winter Session of Parliament started on Sunday with most opposition parties demanding a discussion on the Pegasus snooping row, price rise and unemployment.

Sources aware of the deliberations at the meet said opposition leaders also raised the issue of extended jurisdiction of the Border Security Force in some states, including West Bengal.

PM Skips Meeting

Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not attend Sunday's meeting.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi said there is no tradition of the prime minister attending the all-party meeting. 

On behalf of the government, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh sought cooperation from all the parties for productive and smooth functioning of the House.

Singh said the government is ready for discussions on all the issues permitted by the speaker and the Rajya Sabha chairman under the rules.

Kharge said the parties would cooperate with the government on the issues of public interest. 

A total of 31 parties attended the pre-session meet. 

The prominent opposition leaders present at the customary session-eve meet included Mallikarjun Kharge, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Anand Sharma from the Congress, T R Baalu and Tiruchi Siva from the DMK, Sharad Pawar from the NCP, Vinayak Raut from the Shiv Sena, Ramgopal Yadav from the Samajwadi Party, Satish Mishra from the BSP, Prasanna Acharya from the BJD and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah.

Focus on MSP

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday said all the parties, which attended the all-party meet demanded immediate action on a law on minimum support price for farm produce.

He said demands were also raised to extend compensation to those farmers who died during the protest against the three farm laws.

After the meeting, Kharge told reporters that there were some other big issues that were raised by the parties such as the rising prices of petrol and diesel and the tensions at LAC with China.

Trinamool Congress leaders Sudip Bandopadhyay and Derek O'Brien are also learnt to have raised the issue of bringing laws on minimum support price and disinvestment of profitable PSUs.

The YSR Congress demanded that a joint parliamentary committee be formed to deliberate with stakeholders on giving statutory backing to MSP.

YSR Congress leader in Rajya Sabha Vijaysai Reddy said the party also demands that marine and poultry products be brought under the minimum support price (MSP) regime.

AAP Walks Out

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), however, walked out of the meeting, claiming it was not allowed to speak.

AAP leader Sanjay Singh said he walked out as he was not allowed to raise issues related to farmers, especially on a law on MSP.

The Winter Session of Parliament will begin on Monday and conclude on December 23.