Top BJP leaders, partners discuss issues for Parliament session
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and a group of ministers, including the party’s allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), on Thursday held a meeting to discuss issues that will be taken up during the Parliament session and the President’s address to both Houses next week, functionaries aware of the details said.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and a group of ministers, including the party’s allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), on Thursday held a meeting to discuss issues that will be taken up during the Parliament session and the President’s address to both Houses next week, functionaries aware of the details said.
The meeting was held at defence minister Rajnath Singh’s residence and was attended by Union ministers Manohar Lal Khattar, Bhupender Yadav, Virendra Kumar, Piyush Goyal, Annapurna Devi and S Jaishankar. NDA partners Lalan Singh (Janata Dal - United) and Chirag Paswan (Lok Janshakti Party – Ram Vilas) were also present.
The Parliament session is scheduled to be held from June 24 to July 3. Both Houses are expected to take up the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address on June 28.
“Since the Cabinet committee on Parliamentary Affairs is yet to be constituted, the group of ministers was consulted on the President’s speech,” a BJP functionary said, seeking anonymity.
A second party functionary, who also did not wish to be identified, said the meeting also saw a discussion “on the issues that will be taken up during the Parliament session”.
There was no discussion on the election of the speaker and deputy speaker, the second functionary added, although the allies have broadly agreed to the BJP retaining the first post. The opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance bloc has sought the deputy speaker’s post for its nominee, by convention.
In 2019, when the BJP came to power for a second time, the post of the deputy speaker remained vacant and was not offered to any ally or opposition party.
While a meeting between Union home minister Amit Shah, BJP national president JP Nadda and speaker Om Birla was held on Monday night, no details were shared about the discussion.
Meanwhile, a separate meeting of the Maharashtra and Jharkhand BJP core groups was held at the party headquarters later in the evening to discuss the strategy for the assembly elections in the two states this year.
Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, party state chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar and MP Ashok Chavan were among those who attended it.
The newly appointed in charges of Jharkhand and senior leaders from the eastern state attended the meeting, which also took stock of the party’s performance in the Lok Sabha elections to assess the preparations that will be needed for the state polls, BJP functionaries said.
A similar meeting of the BJP core group in Haryana was also held and attended by party chief JP Nadda and Shah on Monday night.
According to the second functionary quoted above, the BJP’s performance in Haryana, where it lost five of the 10 seats, was assessed on the basis of issues such as unrest among caste groups, anger against sitting MPs and job crisis.