Parties express regret over 'mock' Parliament
Members from various political parties are today understood to have expressed regret over the 'mock' Parliament session held by some members in the Lok Sabha last week.
The members expressed their regret at an all-party meeting convened by Speaker Meira Kumar this morning.
Kumar had expressed deep disenchantment with the mock session held by opposition MPs including RJD chief Lalu Prasad, SP leader Mulayam Singh and BJP leader Gopinath Munde.
It is learnt that the Speaker sought the cooperation of the parties to ensure smooth conduct of business in the remaining period of the Monsoon session.
Members from various parties reportedly expressed regret at the 'mock' Parliament in the meeting that lasted for over 90 minutes.
The meeting was attended by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, BJP Parliamentary Party Chairman L K Advani, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta, CPI-M leader Basudeb Acharia, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, SP leader Shailendra Kumar and TDP leader Nageshwar Rao.
There was no member from RJD whose President Lalu Prasad was most vocal in raising the MPs' salary issue and had acted as 'the prime minister' in the mock session.
SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav could not attend due to the demise of the wife of his cousin and Rajya Sabha MP Ram Gopal Yadav yesterday.
Railway Minister Mamta Banerjee also could not make it to the meeting but Sudip Bandhyopadhyay represented her Trinamool Congress party.
After failing to get the government to agree to their demand for getting their salaries hiked, the opposition has last week forced repeated adjournment of the Lok Sabha.
About 70 MPs had participated in the mock session that invited a strong rebuke from the Speaker. Even the BJP leadership was not happy with the fact that some of its MPs took part in it.



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