All-party meet on Insurance Bill fails to iron out differences

New Delhi, Aug 4: An all-party meeting today failed to hammer out a consensus over the controversial Insurance Bill which was scheduled to be taken up in Rajya Sabha.

Leaders agreed to hold a fresh round of consultations in the next two days as the brief meeting in Parliament House remained inconclusive.

"The meeting remained inconclusive. We have agreed to meet again in the next two days to arrive at a consensus on the possible formulation of the legislation," NCP leader Praful Patel, who attended the meeting, told reporters here.

NCP and BJD have decided to support the bill in the form it was cleared by the Union Cabinet recently. Today's meeting was part of the govenment initiative to take opposition leaders in Rajya Sabha on board on the key bill.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu attended the meeting which took place against the backdrop of nine opposition parties giving a notice to Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari for referring the bill to a Select Committee.

NDA does not have a majority in the Upper House and will have to seek the support of other parties to move its first major economic reforms legislation for consideration. With the opposition demanding that the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill be referred to a Select Committee, the government last night had deferred its plan to move the bill for consideration in Rajya Sabha today.

PTI