New Delhi, Jul 20 (UNI) Six Opposition parties--Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and Shiromani Akali Dal, gave a miss to an all-party organised by the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday evening in Parliament complex over the COVID-19 situation.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, earlier in the day announced that Congress has decided to give the meeting a miss as it wants the government to present the facts about the COVID-19 management on the floor of the House and not behind closed doors.
SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said his party will boycott the meeting over no discussion on farm laws so far in the ongoing session of Parliament.
CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, termed the meeting as "highly irregular" and said any address or presentation that the government wants to make must be done inside Parliament.
AAP MP Bhagwant Mann said, “Unless PM takes an initiative to repeal farm laws, we won’t let the PM speak even inside the house, what to talk of outside.”
The meeting comes against the backdrop of several Opposition leaders meeting Kharge before the beginning of Parliament on Tuesday.
Interestingly, a few hours later, the government agreed to the Opposition's demand to discuss the COVID-19 situation on the floor of the House.
Among the Opposition parties, the all-party meeting was attended by All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and Telangana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS).
From the government's side, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Textile Minister Piyush Goyal and Minority Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi were among the attendees.
A presentation on COVID-19 management was given by Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan at the meeting, sources said.
Modi, in the last all-party meeting held on Sunday, told the floor leaders of various parties that the government is ready to discuss the COVID-19 situation and will hold another meeting on the issue.
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