At all-party meet, big push for women quota

Leaders of parties across the political spectrum pushed for the passage of the women's reservation bill at the all-party meeting called by the Union government on Sunday, a day before Parliament meets for a five-day special session.

- Smriti Kak Ramachandran

Some of the opposition leaders present questioned the timing of the session and the listed agenda and demanded to know if the government had planned to advance the winter session by rescheduling the House sittings.

Union parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said 51 leaders from 34 parties were present at the meeting and the session will begin in the existing Parliament building on Monday and thereafter move to the new building from Tuesday.

"On September 19, there will be a photo session in the old Parliament, then at 11am there will be a function in the Central Hall. After that, we will enter the new Parliament. The session will start in the new Parliament on the 19th of September and regular government work will start from the 20th of September," he said.

According to a government functionary, after a special "function", in the Cental Hall on Tuesday, which will be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Speaker Om Birla, leaders of Opposition of both the Houses and the lawmakers will move to the new building that was inaugurated in May.

The Opposition questioned the purpose of the session and said though initially it was stated the five-day session would be a special session, there was no mention of it in the agenda that was circulated. DMK leader Tiruchi Siva said, "The agenda says this is the 13th session of the 17th Lok Sabha and the 261st session of the Rajya Sabha. If this is a normal session then why has the government done away with Zero Hour and Question Hour, depriving members of their right to raise issues."