All-party meet convened by govt; opposition demands discussion on Pegasus row, price rise

An all-party meeting convened by the government ahead of the Winter Session of Parliament started on Sunday with most opposition parties demanding a discussion on the Pegasus snooping row, price rise and unemployment.

Sources aware of the deliberations at the meet said opposition leaders also raised the issue of extended jurisdiction of the Border Security Force in some states, including West Bengal.

Trinamool Congress leaders Sudip Bandopadhyay and Derek O'Brien are learnt to have raised the issue of bringing laws on minimum support price and disinvestment of profitable PSUs.


The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), however, walked out of the meeting, claiming it was not allowed to speak.

AAP leader Sanjay Singh said he walked out as he was not allowed to raise issues related to farmers, especially on a law on MSP.

The prominent opposition leaders present at the customary session-eve meet included Mallikarjun Kharge, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Anand Sharma from the Congress, T R Baalu and Tiruchi Siva from the DMK, Sharad Pawar from the NCP, Vinayak Raut from the Shiv Sena, Ramgopal Yadav from the Samajwadi Party, Satish Mishra from the BSP, Prasanna Acharya from the BJD and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah.

The Winter Session of Parliament will begin on Monday and conclude on December 23.