Govt to leave no stone unturned for passage of triple talaq bill in Rajya Sabha: Ananth Kumar

New Delhi: The government on Sunday said that it would leave no stone unturned to ensure that the triple talaq bill was passed in Parliament's Budget Session.

"We will leave no stone unturned for the passage of the triple talaq bill in the Rajya Sabha... We will approach various political parties to evolve a consensus for its passage. Like GST was passed by consensus, this bill seeking to ban the practice of instant triple talaq (talaq-e-biddat) among Muslims will be passed," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kumar said, addressing the media after an all-party meeting.

The meeting, ahead of the Budget Session, was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, as well as leaders of the Opposition and other parties.

The Opposition was represented at the meeting by Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mallikarjun Kharge and Jyotiraditya Scindia, Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP), D Raja (CPI), Kanimozhi (DMK), Derek O'Brien and Sudip Bandhopadhyay (TMC), Tariq Anwar (NCP) and Dushyant Chautala (INLD). 

To a question about the demands of various parties during the last session that the bill be referred to a select committee, he said it was now the property of the Rajya Sabha.

"Let the House decide," Kumar said.

Besides the triple talaq legislation, which criminalises instant talaq by Muslim men, the government is also likely to make a pitch for the passage of the OBC bill, which seeks to give a constitutional status to the OBC commission.

The Lok Sabha had passed the bill seeking imprisonment for Muslim men convicted of practising instant triple talaq, but a united Opposition had stalled it in the Rajya Sabha, where the NDA lacks a majority.

The Budget Session will open on January 29, 2018, with the customary address of the President Ram Nath Kovind to a joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Following the address by the President, the economic survey will be tabled in the two Houses.

Jaitley will present the current BJP-led NDA regime's last full-fledged budget on February 1, 2018. The first spell of the session will end on February 9. Parliament will meet again between March 5 and April 6, 2018.

(With PTI inputs)