Parliament LATEST updates: According to sources, BJP’s parliamentary board will meet today at 6 pm at the party’s headquarters in New Delhi. Meanwhile, Union Minister Smriti Irani, who defeated Congress President Rahul Gandhi in Amethi, received the longest applause when she took oath as a member of the 17th Lok Sabha on Monday. As soon as she was called for oath taking, ruling BJP members, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, other Union Ministers and MPs were seen enthusiastically thumping the desk for a long time. Kodikunnil Suresh of the Congress was the second to take oath as the 17th Lok Sabha member, after Modi. According to reports, the Kerala MP is one of the frontrunners to lead the Congress in the Lok Sabha. Kerala was the lone silver lining in Congress’ overall defeat in the Lok Sabha. In Kerala, the Congress-led UDF won 19 out of 20 seats. Leader of the House and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah were among those who took oath as Members of the 17th Lok Sabha that commenced here Monday. As soon as the House met, the Members stood in silence for a few minutes as per the convention after the assembling of the new House. When Modi’s name was called out by the Secretary General for taking oath, Members from the ruling NDA thumped the desk greeting the Prime Minister with slogans such as ‘Modi Modi’ and “Bharat Mata ki Jai. The panel of presiding officers — K Suresh, Brijbhushan Sharan Singh and B Mehtab — took oath as Members after the Prime Minister. Union Ministers Harsh Vardhan, Sripad Naik and Ashwini Chaubey were amongst those who took oath in Sanskrit. Highlighting the role of an opposition in the democracy, Modi said the opposition need not bother about their numbers and urged them to speak actively and participate in the House proceedings. “In Parliament, we should forget ‘Paksh’, ‘Vipaksh’ and think about issues with ’nishpaksh spirit’, work in larger interest of nation,” PM Modi said in his brief address to reporters ahead of the 17th Lok Sabha. Speaking ahead of the 17th Lok Sabha’s first session, Modi said, “We are working to fulfill people’s aspiration. We value the opposition & their role. It’s a sign of a healthy democracy to have a strong opposition. I believe that our session will be more productive as opposed to previous times.” BJP MP Virendra Kumar took oath as the Protem Speaker of the 17th Lok Sabha at Rashtrapati Bhawan. Modi, chairing an all-party meeting on the eve of the first session of the new Lok Sabha, invited heads of all parties to a meeting on 19 June to discuss the “one nation, one election” issue and other important matters. Noting that there are many new faces in this Lok Sabha, Modi said the first session of the Lower House of Parliament should begin with “fresh zeal and new thinking”. At the all-party meeting, the Congress raised with the government issues of unemployment, farmers distress, drought, and press freedom, while also calling for early conduct of Assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir. The Opposition parties demanded discussion on all such issues in Parliament, with the Congress asserting that it is still a “fight of ideologies”. Prime Minister Modi, defence minister Rajnath Singh, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress lawmakers Adhir Ranjan Choudhary, K Suresh, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and TMC leader Derek O’Brien were present at the meeting. The BJP also held its parliamentary party meet here Sunday with Prime Minister Modi assuring Indians that his government will be at the forefront of facilitating legislation that manifests the spirit of “sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas”. A day before the first session of the newly-constituted 17th Lok Sabha, a meeting of the NDA was also held. The government had promulgated as many as 10 ordinances for the session which ends on 26 July and will have 30 sittings. The first two days of the session will be used for administering oath of office to all Lok Sabha MPs. The oath will be administered by protem speaker Virender Kumar. The speaker will be elected on 19 June and the next day the president will address a joint sitting of both Houses. The budget will be introduced on 5 July. Among the bills that will be introduced, the one on triple talaq could be a contentious one between the government and the Opposition. Addressing the media after the all-party meeting, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi said the prime minister urged leaders of all parties to “introspect whether members of Parliament are able to fulfil people’s aspirations as their representatives and the manner in which last two years of the 16th Lok Sabha were wasted”. An all-party meeting is a customary procedure before the beginning of every session of Parliament to ensure its smooth functioning. Joshi said the government has requested all parties, especially the Opposition, for their cooperation for the smooth functioning of both Houses of Parliament. In order to build esprit de corps, Modi has invited presidents of all those parties who have an MP either in Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha for a meeting on 19 June. The meeting has been called to discuss the “one nation, one election” issue, celebrations of 75 years of India’s Independence in 2022 and 150 years of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary this year, he said. It will be followed by a dinner meeting with all MPs of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on 20 June to freely interact and exchange views with the government, Joshi said, adding that these two novel initiatives would go a long way in building team spirit among all parliamentarians.
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