External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha L K Advani on Wednesday amidst speculations that the present monsoon session may be curtailed in the wake of the stand-off over the Indo-US nuclear deal.
Mukherjee, who is also the Leader of the House in the Lok Sabha, met Advani after the House was adjourned till afternoon because of the uproar created by the Opposition over the constitution of the UPA-Left Committee. The committee will look into the concerns raised by the Left about the India-United States civil nuclear deal.
Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena and the Third Front in both the Houses called the constitution of the committee an 'insult' to Parliament and shouted slogans against the move.
The Opposition demanded the setting up of a Joint Parliamentary Committee to look into the issues arising out of the deal.
The monsoon session is scheduled to end on September 14, but proceedings have been derailed often because of arguments on the Indo-US nuclear agreement.
