Cong, SP, TMC skips Birla’s meet; DMK attends

Three major political parties -- Congress, Samajwadi Party (SP) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) -- declined to attend a traditional meeting with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla following the contentious monsoon session of Parliament. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chose to participate in the gathering.

A senior Congress official disclosed that the three opposition parties had collectively opted against attending the customary meeting. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other high-ranking officials were present during the meeting.

"The Speaker is not the issue for us. However, we felt it unnecessary to join the meeting since the session yielded no meaningful outcomes," the Congress leader explained. "Bills were passed without much debate. Our grievances regarding allegations of police excess against students and corruption in Ayodhya donations were left unresolved."

Rahul Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition, has abstained from these meetings in several recent sessions. In December, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra did attend the customary meetings, engaging with Prime Minister Modi on matters concerning Kerala and Wayanad, her constituency in the southern Indian state.

The TMC abstained from the Thursday meeting as it has been awaiting Birla's responses to its petitions seeking disqualification of 20 defectors. The monsoon session was largely fruitless, with the Opposition persistently demanding a statement from Shah on allegations of police misconduct and the use of pellet guns during a July 20 protest march, and calling for the resignation of then Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.