Monsoon Session: Opposition questions govt on PM's absence at all-party meet

New Delhi, July 17: The Congress on Sunday questioned the absence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the all-party meeting convened by the government ahead of the Monsoon session of Parliament.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh questioned the prime minister's absence from the meeting.

''All Party Meeting to discuss forthcoming session of Parliament has just begun and the Prime Minister as usual is absent,'' he said on Twitter.

''Isn't this 'unparliamentary','' Ramesh asked.

"We will discuss which issues should be raised in Parliament on day 1, day 2, so on. We don't need to talk about how their Vice President candidate is. Our candidate will be decided today," said Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge before an all-party meeting called by LS Speaker.

Leaders of various parties attended the meeting convened by the government in Parliament House annexe to discuss the issues to be taken up during the Monsoon session and seek their cooperation for the smooth functioning of both houses of Parliament.

BJP's Rajnath Singh, Piyush Goyal, Prahlad Joshi, Arjun Meghwal and Muraleedharan. The Congress is being represented by Mallikarjun Kharge, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Jairam Ramesh attended the meeting.

Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule from the Nationalist Congress Party, Ramnath Thakur from Janata Dal United, Aam Aadmi Party's Sanjay Singh and Harsimrat Kaur from Akali Dal are also present.

The Monsoon session of Parliament will begin on July 18 and will end on August 12.