Oppn meetings to chalk out plan for House session today

NEW DELHI: In two strategy meetings of the Opposition on Tuesday, political parties will plan their agenda for the special session of Parliament on September 18-22 and prepare for any surprise move by the government, which has not yet revealed its plan, according to people aware of the matter.

- Saubhadra Chatterji

The Congress's parliamentary strategy group will meet at 5pm, followed by a meeting of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc leaders at 7.30pm, Congress leader Manickam Tagore said.

The agenda for the four-day special session will be declared only after the G20 summit on September 9-10, government functionaries have indicated. This has forced opposition parties to prepare for the government's surprise moves, including a possible draft legislation on major issues such as the sub-categorisation of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and the Women's Reservation Bill. The session also comes days after the government made a renewed push for simultaneous elections in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, and named a panel under former president Ram Nath Kovind to delve deeper into what it calls a "One Nation, One Election" plan.

While many opposition parties, including the Congress, which piloted the Women's Reservation Bill in March 2010 in the Rajya Sabha, and the Trinamool Congress, a vocal supporter of the draft law, have little option but to support it, OBC sub-categorisation might turn out to be a more complex issue for the INDIA bloc.