Winter session of Parliament may be in the third week of November but given the chaos in the Budget Session, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee is taking no chances. Chatterjee has already scheduled an all-party meeting on November 8 to broker a truce of sorts between the Government and Opposition to prevent disruption of business.Chatterjee, who will be away for a month — first to Canada for the Commonwealth Parliamentary Committee and later to Britain — consulted Vice-President and Chairman of Rajya Sabha Bhairon Singh Shekhawat to fix the date of the meetings before he left.‘‘It had to be done in advance as leaders and members will get caught in the Maharashtra elections and the following festival season,’’ a source said. Besides, it was felt negotiations between the Government and Opposition, jointly brokered by the Speaker and the Vice-President, would have to be suitably timed to ensure the goodwill continues into the Winter Session.The suggestion for holding an all-party meeting to sort out differences came from the Government. Citing the repeated disruptions in both Houses of Parliament, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad called upon Shekhawat and Chatterjee to prevail upon the Opposition to cooperate with the Government in Parliament.Consultations with the Opposition were kicked off yesterday with External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh holding discussions with Advani on the next round of negotiations with Pakistan. Today, Prime Minister Manomohan Singh met his predecessor, A.B. Vajpayee, on the same issue.The UPA Government’s view is that ‘‘there has to be a permanent solution’’ whereby business can be conducted in Parliament on an even pace and the government is not pushed to a firefighter’s role on a daily-hourly basis.Chatterjee has also written to Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha L.K. Advani and leaders of other parties in this regard, sources said. The all-party meeting will be chaired by Shekhawat whose equation with BJP leaders is expected to help reduce bitterness on both sides.
