All-party meet: PM says open to discuss all issues; Opposition raises economy slowdown
New Delhi, Nov 17: Ahead of Parliament's winter session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday assured an all-party meeting that the government is ready to discuss all issues, while the opposition raised concerns over economic slowdown and farm distress and strongly demanded that detained Lok Sabha MP Farooq Abdullah be allowed to attend the House.
At the government-convened meeting attended by almost all major political parties, Prime Minister Modi said the most important job of the House is to discuss and debate and this session should also be as productive as the last one, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi told reporters.
The Opposition demanded that the issues of economic slowdown, job loss and farm distress must be discussed during the session, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said.
A number of leaders raised the issue of detention of National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and said he should be allowed to attend Lok Sabha. Sources said there was no definite response from the government on the issue.
"Government is ready to discuss all issues within the framework of rules and procedures of the Houses," the prime minister was quoted as saying by Joshi.
Constructive discussion in Parliament also keeps the bureaucracy alert, the prime minister said at the meeting.
"The prime minister, while responding to specific issues raised by the representatives of various political parties, said that the government would work together with all parties in a constructive manner to address pending legislations and frame policy solutions for specific issues related to environment and pollution, economy, agricultural sector and farmers," Parliamentary Affairs Ministry said in a statement.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, however, was cynical on the prime minister's assurance that the government is ready to discuss all issues, saying that when it comes to taking up issues such as unemployment, economic slowdown, condition of farmers in the House, the government takes a different stand.
National Conference MP Hasnain Masoodi said they raised the issue of Farooq Abdullah's detention at the meeting and stressed that the government is under constitutional obligation to ensure his participation in the Parliament session.
"How can a parliamentarian be detained illegally? He should be allowed to attend Parliament," Azad said. He also demanded that former finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram be allowed to attend Parliament, saying there have been instances in past when in similar circumstances MPs have been allowed in the House.
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah was detained under the Public Safety Act in September.
Chidambaram is in judicial custody in the INX media money laundering case that the Enforcement Directorate is investigating.
The all-party meeting was also attended by BJP chief and Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Minister Thawarchand Gehlot and several senior opposition leaders like Chowdhury, Azad and deputy leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma.
TMC leader Derek O Brien, LJP leader Chirag Paswan and Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav, Telugu Desam Party's Jayadev Galla and V Vijaysai Reddy of YSR Congress were among those present at the meeting.
Paswan raised the issue of women's reservation bill.
The meeting was called by the government and moderated by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Meghwal.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla had on Saturday appealed to all political parties for cooperation for ensuring smooth functioning of the House.
After an all-party meeting, which was also attended by Modi, the Speaker had said floor leaders of different parties mentioned various issues that they wished to be discussed during the winter session from November 18 till December 13.
The Budget session was the most productive session in Lok Sabha since 1952 as 35 bills were passed. A total of 32 bills were cleared in Rajya Sabha.
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NEET student hangs self in Rajasthan's Sikar
Jaipur (PTI): A student preparing for the NEET examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a rented room in Rajasthan's Sikar on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the student allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister's scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.
He had appeared in the NEET UG exam 2026, which was cancelled due to paper leak, they said.
Udyog Nagar SHO Rajesh Kumar said that the deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, was a resident of Kanika ki Dhani village in Jhunjhunu's Gudha Gaudji area.
He had been living in a rented room in Sikar's Jaldhari Nagar area with his two sisters while preparing for NEET over the last three years.
His elder sister later found him hanging and informed the landlord and police after bringing him down, officials said.
The SHO said the body was kept at SK Hospital mortuary, and a postmortem had not been conducted.
The student's father, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, told police that Pradeep's NEET examination had gone well and the family was expecting him to score around 650 marks.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot expressed grief over the incident and linked it to anxiety among students after reports of irregularities and paper leaks in NEET 2026.
Pilot said repeated paper leak incidents and cancellation of examinations were affecting students' mental health and demanded a time-bound investigation and strict action against those responsible.
