NEW DELHI, NOV 28: No agreement could be reached at an all-party meeting convened by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee here tonight to evolve a consensus on important legislation to be brought in the winter session of parliament which begins here on Monday.The government plans to move seven bills related to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), besides the Insurance Regulatory Authority Bill and the Women's Reservation Bill.The opposition leaders said they would take a stand on the bills only after studying the drafts. The government, however, conceded an opposition demand for a discussion in parliament on some issues .After the dinner meeting at the prime minister's residence, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan told newspersons that the opposition had promised to co-operate on issues of over-riding importance.He said the government wished to pass the WTO-related bills before January one but the opposition demanded that they first be sent to standing committees. But the problem wasthat the standing committees had not yet been formed, he said. Mahajan said the government wanted the legislation in place before the deadline set by the WTO. The proposed legislation includes bills on patents, information technology, trademark and copyright.He said the left parties opposed the Insurance Bill and demanded that it be sent to a select committee. The government, however, rejected the demand saying that the bill had already been considered by a standing committee whose recommendations have been incorporated in the new draft.Somnath Chatterji (CPM) said the Left parties would not back down from their demand.Mahajan said some parties were opposed to the Women's Reservation Bill, which aims to provide 33 per cent reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies, in its present form.The meeting did not discuss the demand for deleting the name of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi from the Bofors chargesheet. The meeting was attended by Home Minister L K Advani,External Affairs Minister and leader of the Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Manmohan Singh, Somnath Chatterji (CPM), Indrajit Gupta (CPI), Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and BSP leader Mayawati among others.
