New Delhi: Opposition raked up the issue of the detention of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, who is a member of the Lok Sabha, during all-party meeting convened by the Government, a day ahead of the Parliament session.
Farooq Abdullah is under detention along with two other former Chief Ministers Omar Abdullah and PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti since the abrogation of Article 370 and re-organization of the state.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, said after the all-party meet, “Farooq Abdullah should be allowed to attend the Parliament session as he is under detention for the past 3 months and as per past precedents jailed former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram should also be allowed to attend the proceedings”.
Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury asserted that the opposition will be raising the issue of the economic crisis during the winter session of the Parliament while the government assured smooth functioning of the house, Parliamentary Affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said.
Regarding former ally Shiv Sena, Joshi said, “Shiv Sena is working on a tie-up with the Congress as they have opted to sit in the opposition. We have agreed to it and their minister has also resigned from the government”.
Earlier Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the all-party meet on Sunday ahead of the crucial winter session of Parliament beginning from Monday.
Besides Joshi, his junior Cabinet colleagues – Arjun Ram Meghwal and V. Muraleedharan, Union ministers – Amit Shah and Thawarchand Gehlot, also attended the all-party meet convened at the Parliament Library building on Sunday.
Telugu Desam Party’s Jaydev Galla, Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Bahujan Samaj Party’s Satish Mishra participated in the meeting.
Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien and Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Lok Janshakti Party lawmaker Chirag Paswan, Republican Party of India leader Ramdas Athawale, AIADMK’s Navneet Krishnan and Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal(S) also took part in the meeting.
Other leaders included MDMK’s Vaiko, T.K. Rangarajan of Communist Party of India (Marxist), T.R. Balu of DMK, YSRCP’s V. Vijayasai Reddy, Manoj Jha of Rashtriya Janata Dal and Ram Gopal Yadav of Samajwadi Party were among those present in the meeting.
As the Central government is likely to push for passage of almost 35 legislations in the session, including the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019, which amends the definition of illegal migrants, and the Personal Data Protection Bill, the opposition parties are likely to raise the issues of their concern.
Currently, there are 43 bills pending in Parliament. Of these, 12 bills are listed for consideration and passage, and seven are listed for withdrawal. Twenty-seven bills are listed for introduction, consideration, and passage.
The Parliament session, which will end on December 13, will see a total of 20 sittings.