By IANS,
New Delhi: The government has decided to convene an all-party meeting Monday to discuss the sugarcane pricing policy following the growing political row on the issue.
According to Congress party sources, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is also Leader of the House in the Lok Sabha, has written to the floor leaders of all political parties inviting them for a meeting Monday.
The government decision follows realisation that one of its key allies, the DMK, was likely to join the opposition on the issue, and after Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss the farmers’ unhappiness on the pricing, the Congress sources said.
The discontent over the sugarcane pricing led to the adjournment of the Lok Sabha Thursday on the first day of parliament’s winter session. Opposition leaders protested the government’s pricing for sugarcane, which farmers say is very low. Hundreds of farmers also held a protest outside parliament.
The prime minister later convened a cabinet meeting and assured Rahul Gandhi that the matter would be looked into.