An all-party meeting called by the government ahead of the start of the Monsoon session of Parliament got underway in New Delhi on Sunday with leaders from across the political spectrum attending it.
The government is represented by senior Union Minister Rajnath Singh, deputy leader of the Lok Sabha, his cabinet colleague and BJP's leader in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal and Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi.
Leaders from almost all parties including Congress' Mallikarjun Kharge, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Jairam Ramesh, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)'s T.R. Baalu and Tiruchi Siva, Trinamool Congress (TMC)'s Sudeep Bandyopadhyay and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)'s Sharad Pawar were present at the meeting.
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Biju Janata Dal (BJD)'s Pinaki Misra, YSR Congress Party (YSRCP)'s Vijaysai Reddy and Midhun Reddy, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS)' Keshav Rao and Nama Nageshwar Rao, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD)'s AD Singh and Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut were also present in the meeting.
It has been the practice of the government to call an all-party meeting before the start of the session to deliberate upon issues and build consensus.
During the meeting, it is expected that the Spposition will push for a discussion on issues related to the Agnipath scheme, economy and unemployment.
The government is expected to put forward its legislative agenda.
The Monsoon session of Parliament will begin on July 18 and will end on August 12.
