Centre calls meeting of opposition parties over suspension of MP’s: Opposition unlikely to attend

Delhi: The government has invited the floor leaders of five parties to a meeting on Monday morning to settle the standoff over the suspension of 12 Rajya Sabha MPs, but the Opposition is sceptical of the initiative and has indicated that they may opt out of the discussions. Pralhad Joshi, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, has written to the floor leaders of the Congress, Shiv Sena, CPI(M), Trinamool Congress and CPI, whose MPs have been suspended, for a meeting on Monday at 10 a.m. at Parliament House. Mallikarjun Kharge, the Leader of the

Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, addressed a late-night letter to Joshi, calling the invitation to select parties for a meeting between Speaker Piyush Goyal and the Parliamentary Affairs Minister “unfair and unfortunate.”  According to opposition sources, the five parties may not choose to attend the meeting because only parties whose MPs got suspended are invited. A final decision would be made at a meeting of opposition parties hosted by Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday, before the government’s scheduled meeting, they said. Various floor leaders had a telephonic discussion with Kharge, according to sources, during which they conveyed that it was an attempt to divide the Opposition.