The Hindu : National : Budget session: Somnath to meet parties

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 11, 2006

National

National

Budget session: Somnath to meet parties

Special Correspondent

He has been hosting such meetings, before each session, for smooth conduct of House

NEW DELHI : Ahead of the budget session beginning on February 16, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee will meet party leaders over lunch and dinner to ensure smooth conduct of business.

After meeting leaders in groups over three days — starting Sunday — he will meet them together on February 15 over lunch to help them find common ground over contentious issues.

While this session will see both the Annual Budget and the Railway Budget besides the Economic Survey, the Left parties have made known their intention to press for a detailed discussion on India's position on the Iran nuclear issue. Another issue that is likely to come up pertains to the Supreme Court verdict on the Bihar Assembly dissolution; given the severe indictment of the former Governor, Buta Singh.

As always, the first to dine with the Speaker will be the Opposition represented by leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and other constituents of the National Democratic Alliance on Sunday. He will meet the Congress leadership on Monday evening. On Tuesday afternoon, he will meet allies of the Congress over lunch. And, the exercise will be wrapped up that evening with the Speaker meeting parties supporting the United Progressive Alliance from outside — the Left parties, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party — over dinner. The following afternoon, all these party leaders will join him for lunch to chart a middle path.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail