Today in Politics: Govt calls all-party meeting ahead of Monsoon Session of Parliament

Indian Express

4 hours ago

Ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, set to run from July 21 to August 21, the government has called for an all-party meeting on Sunday.
The all-party meeting comes a day after the Opposition INDIA bloc held a virtual meeting on Saturday to discuss its strategy for the Monsoon Session and the issues it intends to raise to corner the government. Notably, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was absent from the meeting after it declared it was only part of the INDIA bloc for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
After the Saturday meeting, the INDIA bloc said there was a consensus among the allies on eight major issues to be raised in Parliament.
While the BJP-led NDA government seems to be keen to make the Monsoon Session heavy with its legislative agenda, the Opposition is set to corner the government over multiple issues, ranging from the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor to US President Donald Trump's claim of brokering the India-Pakistan ceasefire, to the Election Commission (EC)'s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar, as reported by Liz Mathew.
'The government has a heavy legislative agenda, but the session will be dominated by the SIR exercise in Bihar, Operation Sindoor and Ahmedabad air crash probe,' admitted a source from the Treasury benches.
Parliament is also expected to take up the issue of impeachment of Justice Yashwant Varma, from whose Delhi residence stacks of currency notes were allegedly recovered. An inquiry committee will be set up by the presiding officer of the House concerned to probe charges against Justice Varma, whose timeline for submitting its report will be crunched from three months, sources said.
The Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) is set to hold a protest on Sunday in Villupuram district against the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government over its 'failure' to implement a 10.5% reservation for Vanniyars within the reservation for Most Backward Communities (MBCs).
However, the protest comes at a tumultuous time for the party, which is in the midst of a dispute between PMK founder S Ramadoss and his son, party president Anbumani over the leadership of the regional outfit.
But recent reports suggest the two are heading towards rapprochement after the alleged discovery of a tapping device at the senior Ramadoss's home, as reported by Arun Janardhanan.
According to two senior PMK sources and a confidant close to the family, a complaint filed on behalf of Ramadoss about the discovery of a sophisticated audio-tapping device at his house, and the hint that the son's side may be implicated in it, had prompted a flurry of damage-control efforts by the family. G Viswanathan, who runs the VIT Group of Institutions and is a long-time friend of the family, is reportedly the chief mediator.
However, the PMK and Ramadoss family later got apprehensive that the complaint provided a reason to the DMK government to send in state police into Ramadoss's house, as well as go after Anbumani. The PMK is an ally of the BJP-led NDA in the state.
This added an urgency to the mediation efforts between the father and son, and as per sources, a breakthrough is near.
A PMK leader said what contributed to the thaw was Anbumani's meeting last week with mother Saraswathi at a family wedding in Chennai. Anbumani and his wife Sowmya touched Saraswathi's feet and sought her blessings, as senior party members watched. The two sides reportedly went on to hold talks for nearly two hours, though Ramadoss and Anbumani made sure that they were not present together at the venue.
The signs of a truce before the protest on Sunday, which is expected to attract more than 5,000 party cadres, could provide a symbolic boost to the party.
– With PTI inputs