Special Session's Agenda Unknown, Centre Calls All Party Meet Day Before

The government will hold an all-party meeting Monday evening - hours before the start of a five-day special session of Parliament that was called for by Union Minister Pralhad Joshi earlier this month.

Mr Joshi posted on X (formerly Twitter), writing: "Ahead of the Parliament session from the 18th of this month, an all-party floor leaders meeting has been convened on the 17th at 4.30 PM. The invitation for the same has been sent to concerned leaders through email. Letter to follow." The post also included a Kannada translation of the statement.

Pralhad Joshi is a Lok Sabha MP from Karnataka's Dharwad constituency.

Monday's all-party meeting may discuss the agenda for next week's session, a lack of clarity over which has led to furious speculation, including buzz the government will move a resolution to change the country's official name from India to Bharat.

READ | Government Calls Parliament "Special Session", Agenda Not Declared

Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien, a fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government, took a sharp dig.

"Two working days to go before the Special Parliament Session begins and still not a word on the agenda. Only two people (seen as a reference to the PM and Union Home Minister Amit Shah) know! And we still call ourselves a parliamentary democracy," he posted on X.

The "two man" jibe featured in Congress leader Jairam Ramesh's post too. "Today is September 13. The five-day Special Session of Parliament will commence five days from now and nobody-barring One Man (ok, perhaps the Other One too) has any sense of the agenda," he said, highlighting five instances in which special session agendas were disclosed early.

The all-party meet call, however, has been played down by CPI leader D Raja, who told news agency ANI, "This is a routine meeting...  but before calling the special session the government should have consulted leaders of the opposition."

"Nobody knows what is the agenda for the special session. What are the issues that will be discussed?"

Last week invitations to G20 leaders from President Droupadi Murmu's office described her as the "President of Bharat", In its defence government pointed to a line in the Constitution that says "India, that is, Bharat, shall be a Union of States..."

READ | On India-Bharat Name Change Row, Rahul Gandhi's Jab At Government

Meanwhile, there is also talk the special session has been called to formally move the Parliament from the old building to the new; sources had said this may take place on September 19.

The government's special session announcement was also widely criticised by opposition leaders. Several hit out for choosing a date that clashes with "India's most important festival" - Ganesh Chaturthi will be celebrated on Tuesday.

"This special session called during India's most important festival of Ganesh Chaturthi... goes against Hindu sentiments!" Shiv Sena UBT's Priyanka Chaturvedi said, while the Nationalist Congress Party's Supriya Sule demanded it be rescheduled. 

Ex-Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi, meanwhile, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "point out this special session has been convened without any consultation with other political parties". "None of us have any idea of its agenda... all we have been communicated is that all five days have been allocated for 'government business'," she told the Prime Minister.

Government sources had told NDTV the session's agenda may include discussions on India as a 'developed nation'. Other topics could include Chandrayaan-3, the Moon mission, and the widely praised G20 Summit that was held in Delhi last week.