The Winter Session of Parliament will begin on Monday, and the Union government is expected to introduce a Bill to repeal the Centre’s farm laws on the first day itself, NDTV reported.

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar will introduce the Bills in the Lok Sabha. Both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have issued whips to their MPs to remain present in the House.

The Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Second Amendment) Bill, 2021, the Electricity (Amendment) Bill and the Trafficking of Persons Bill have also been listed in the Lok Sabha for the Winter Session.

A total of 26 Bills are slated to be introduced while three more Bills are expected to be discussed in the Lower House during the Session.

During an all-party meeting held on Sunday, Opposition parties raised matters like fuel price hike, inflation and the farmers’ protest, leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said. Opposition parties also sought a discussion in the Parliament on the Pegasus spyware row and unemployment.

The parties present at the meeting also demanded that a law guaranteeing minimum support price for crops should be introduced, Kharge said.

A total of 31 parties attended the meeting.

The Trinamool Congress demanded that the Parliament should discuss the farm laws before they are repealed, The Indian Express reported. Party MP Derek O’Brien said that there will be Opposition unity on “common issues”, but drew a distinction between his party and parties that are electoral allies of the Congress.

Aam Aadmi Party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh walked out of the meeting alleging that he was not allowed to speak.

“They [Centre] don’t let any member speak during all-party meeting,” Singh alleged. “I raised the issue of bringing law on MSP guarantee in this session of the Parliament and other issues including extension of BSF’s [Border Security Force] jurisdiction, etc.”

Previous session

The Monsoon Session of Parliament had begun on July 19. Both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned sine die (with no appointed date of resumption) on August 11, two days ahead of schedule.

During the Monsoon Session, the Lok Sabha recorded a productivity of 22% while the Rajya Sabha recorded 28%.