Opposition parties  demanded the Central government to address a number of issues ranging from farmers’ protests to fuel price hikes in the country.

The demands were made during the all-party meet today which comes a day before the Winter Session of Parliament convenes.

Following the all-party meet, senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said many issues including, inflation, fuel price hike, farmers’ issues and COVID-19 were raised in the meeting today.

All parties demanded that a law guaranteeing MSP should be made, he said.

Kharge, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, further said, “We demanded from the government that families of COVID-19 victims be given compensation of Rs 4 lakh each. Compensation should also be given to farmers who lost their lives during the farm laws protest.”

Talking about the farm laws, which have been repealed following PM Modi’s announcement, Kharge stressed, “We expected PM to attend meeting today. But for some reason, he didn’t attend it… Govt has withdrawn farm laws but PM had said that he couldn’t make farmers understand. It means that these laws may be brought back in some other form in future.”

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi said there is no tradition of the prime minister attending the all-party meeting.

On behalf of the government, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh sought cooperation from all the parties for productive and smooth functioning of the House.

Singh said the government is ready for discussions on all the issues permitted by the speaker and the Rajya Sabha chairman under the rules.

Kharge said the parties would cooperate with the government on the issues of public interest. A total of 31 parties attended the pre-session meet.