On the first day of Parliament’s special session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the Union Cabinet in the national capital on Monday evening and is learnt to have paved the way for an important legislation that could lead to women empowerment in Parliament and legislatures.
The meeting lasted for more than two hours at Parliament Annexe. All Cabinet ministers, including ministers of state with independent charge, attended the meeting.
While Union minister of state Pralhad Patel posted on X that the Cabinet had cleared women’s reservation bill, he later deleted the tweet.
There was no official word on the agenda before the Cabinet.
The Cabinet meeting is usually held on Wednesdays, but a meeting on Monday, and that too on the first day of Parliament session, created the speculation that some important legislations could be passed.
Sources said the Cabinet meeting discussed delimitation as well.
The meeting was held a day after Sunday’s all-party meeting, in which all parties pitched for passing the women’s reservation bill.
Before the Cabinet meeting, a series of meetings were held in the old Parliament. Prime Minister Modi held meetings with principal secretary PK Mishra and Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba. Thereafter, the PM held a meeting with Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Pralhad Joshi.
While Goyal is leader of the House in Rajya Sabha, Joshi is parliamentary affairs minister. Both play a key role in floor management and getting the Centre’s legislative agenda cleared.
Several Union ministers including Dharmendra Pradhan, Bhupender Yadav, Kiren Rijiju, Anurag Thakur met Goyal and Joshi in the latter’s office in Parliament complex.
After the Cabinet meeting, Union ministers Pradhan, Thakur and Rijiju met at BJP president JP Nadda’s residence.
Sources said several BJP MPs have been advised to bring as many women as possible from their constituencies to watch the special session’s Parliament proceedings.
Ever since it was announced that the session would be held from September 18 to 22, there has been speculation on various bills, including the women’s reservation bill, that may come up during the session.
