PM asks Opposition to cooperate on food security bill

Lamenting that lot of time has been wasted in the last two to three Parliament sessions, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday asked the opposition to cooperate in the passage of the legislative business including the "most important" ordinance on Food security bill.

Promising to discuss all issues raised by the Opposition, Singh hoped that the nearly month-long Monsoon session starting Monday will be "very constructive and  productive".

"I hope it will be a very constructive and productive session of Parliament. Lot of time was wasted in previous two to three sessions and there is lot of legislative agenda pending before Parliament.

"And I sincerely hope that all sections of the House will cooperate in making it very productive and very constructive session," Singh told mediapersons after an all-party meeting convened by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar to ensure smooth functioning of  the House.

Maintaining that government on its part is willing to discuss any issue which may agitate the opposition, he said, "But all that we respectfully ask Opposition is to cooperate with the government in passing the essential legislative work, which is primarily the responsibility of Parliament."

Of all the five to six ordinanaces which are before Parliament, Singh noted that the most important is the one on food security. "I sincerely hope that Parliament in its wisdom find it justified to pass that, to convert that ordinance into a bill through an Act of Parliament".

While Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said that the government has received "emphatic assurances" from all political parties about the session being business-like and smooth, Samajwadi Party, which is supporting Government from outside struck a discordant note saying the session would not run smoothly and would be a stormy affair.

Amid turbulence in Gorkhaland after the decision on Telangana, Trinamool Congress wanted a statement by Home Minsiter Sushil Kumar Shinde that now no new state will be carved out cautioning otherwise "India will burn".