INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
NEW DELHI: The Centre has called for an all-party meeting on September 17, a day ahead of the five-day special session of Parliament."Ahead
of Parliament session from the 18th of this month, an all-party floor leaders meeting has been convened on the 17th at 4.30pm
The invitation for the same has been sent to concerned leaders through email," Union minister for parliamentary affairs Pralhad Joshi said
in a post on X.There has been suspense around the reason for the special session, which has been called from September 18
This led to speculations about the session's agenda
Early Lok Sabha elections, country's name change from India to Bharat, one nation-one elections, 33% quota for women in Lok Sabha and state
assemblies - these are some of the issues that did the rounds as opposition parties tried to guess the reason for the special Parliament
session.Government's emphasis on using Bharat instead of India in government functions, including the recently concluded G20 Summit, has led
to strong apprehensions about the possibility of name change being on the agenda of the special session.It started with PM Modi's use of
Then we had the President's invite for G20 dinner that mentioned her as "President of Bharat"
Finally, during the opening ceremony PM Modi's name card read Bharat instead of usual India.On one nation-one election, the government has
set up an eight-member high-powered committee, headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind, to examine the issue of simultaneous elections to
the Lok Sabha, Assemblies, municipalities and panchayats.Apart from the Chairperson, the committee includes home minister Amit Shah,
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former Leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Finance Commission
chairperson NK Singh, senior advocate Harish Salve, former Lok Sabha Secretary General Subhash C Kashyap, and former Chief Vigilance
Commissioner Sanjay Kothari.However, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury who was named a member of the High-Level Committee (HLC) constituted by the
In her letter, she also mentioned the issues which the opposition parties wanted to discuss during the special session.However, the
government accused Sonia of politicising the issue and said the agenda for the session is never shared while announcing the dates of any
Parliament session.Meanwhile, Parliament staff will be seen in new uniforms as the special session begins next week, according to ANI
Chamber attendants, officers, security personnel, drivers and marshals all will don new uniforms.
