Opposition leaders meeting underway in Parliament for Winter Session

NEW DELHI: A meeting of Opposition leaders is underway on Wednesday in the Parliament in the chamber of Opposition leader Mallikarjun Kharge on strategy for the Winter session.

After a long time, Trinamool Congress (TMC) is taking part in the Opposition meeting today. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is also participating.

The winter session of the Parliament will begin on Wednesday. The session will have a total of 17 working days. The BJP-led Central government's agenda for the winter session of Parliament includes 16 new bills.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also is likely to interact with the media ahead of the first day of the Winter Session of Parliament. The Winter Session of Parliament will begin today and continue till December 29. The session also had delayed by a month due to the Gujarat election schedule.

The Lok Sabha will pay tributes to members who passed away during the inter-session period, on the first day. Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, who passed away in October after a prolonged illness, will be among the departed members to be remembered.

This will be the inaugural session where Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar will officiate proceedings in the Rajya Sabha as the ex-officio chairman of the Upper House.

At the all-party meeting yesterday both Congress, as well as Trinamool Congress (TMC), raised the issue of rampant unemployment, Congress further raised the issue of the hurried-up appointment of the ECI and EWS quota. Congress raised the issue of price rise and misuse of central agencies by the sitting government.

Parties also asked for more time to be given to the Opposition and that their voices should not be muzzled. The Biju Janata Dal raised the need to have a discussion on the Women Reservation Bill.

A number of other parties supported this. The Rajya Sabha Secretariat, meanwhile, released a Code of Conduct for its members, a day of the Winter session.

The monsoon session of Parliament was held between July 18 and August 8.