Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and other leaders arrive at parliament to attend all-party meeting
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held an all-party meeting, his first after reclaiming power at the centre, this morning -- a day before parliament's budget session is slated to begin. "We had a fruitful all-party meeting today, the first one after the election results and before the start of the Monsoon Session. Thankful to the leaders for their valuable suggestions. We all agreed on the smooth running of Parliament so that we can fulfil people's aspirations," PM Modi tweeted after the meeting.
The government needs support and cooperation of all parties - necessary for the passing of key bills in Rajya Sabha, where it is still in minority. In the Lok Sabha, the NDA has simple majority with 353 members out of the 545 seats. But it has only 102 members in the 245-member upper house.
This might affect the passing of key bills, like the bill against "Triple Talaq", which will be introduced in this session. The bill had got stalled in the upper house in the last Lok Sabha. Not just the opposition, but even BJP ally Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United had opposed the bill.
The opposition, however, is yet to recover from its shock defeat in the national elections.
An opposition strategy session - also customary before every parliament session - is yet to be held. The Congress's abysmal performance has disqualified it again for post of the Leader of the Opposition.
The party, which won only 52 seats, is yet to name its leaders in both houses. Efforts have been on to have Rahul Gandhi accept the role of the leader in the Lok Sabha.
But Mr Gandhi, who insisted on stepping down from the party chief's post, is yet to speak on the issue. His decision to step down from the party president's post is yet to be accepted by the party, leading to an impasse.
Most of Rahul Gandhi's team will not be present in the lower house - Jyotiraditya Scindia lost the election and Sachin Pilot is now the Deputy of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
Those who attended the meeting included Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Prahlad Joshi and his junior, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Defence minister Rajnath Singh, Congress's Ghulam Nabi Azad and Adhir Ranjan Choudhary, Sudeep Bandopadhyay and Derek O' Brien of the Trinamool Congress, and National Conference patriarch Farooq Abdullah.