By Shailesh Khanduri

New Delhi: Congress has questioned PM Narendra Modi’s absence in an all-party meeting called by the government ahead of the start of the Monsoon session of Parliament on Sunday morning which is being attended by leaders from across the political spectrum.

Taking to Twitter, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “All Party Meeting to discuss forthcoming session of Parliament has just begun and the Prime Minister as usual is absent. Isn’t this ‘unparliamentary’?“

( Link https://twitter.com/Jairam_Ramesh/status/1548549631914954757?s=20&t=mu4mdlPFtbYc9FQGJ_hGlA)

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 Ramesh, DMK's TR Baalu and Tiruchi Siva, TMC's Sudeep Bandyopadhyay and NCP's Sharad Pawar were present at the meeting.

BJD's Pinaki Misra, YSRCP's Vijaysai Reddy and Midhun Reddy, TRS' Keshav Rao and Nama Nageshwar Rao, 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 opposition 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.