Pranab holds meeting with Sushma, Jaitley ahead of Par session

Mukherjee held a meeting with the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her Rajya Sabha counterpart Arun Jaitley at his office in North Block this evening.

After the meeting, Swaraj told reporters that it was a "cordial meeting" over tea and she and Jaitley had only made a "courtesy call" on Mukherjee.

"It was a routine meeting which is normally held before every session--be it monsoon or winter session--of Parliament between the government and the opposition. It was held in a very good and cordial atmosphere," Swaraj said.

A host of issues which are likely to come up during the forthcoming session were discussed by Mukherjee and the BJP leaders.

Sources said BJP did not make any promise about smooth functioning of Parliament during today's meeting. Disruptions by the opposition on the first few days are likely.

BJP will raise the issue of black money in a big way during this session. Party leader L K Advani is undertaking a campaign against corruption and has flagged the black money issue prominently. Government is likely to relent to demands for a discussion on the issue, as has been indicated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Both the parties, along with the Left, are also likely to make all efforts to pass the Lokpal Bill in this session.

Among the other issues to be raised by the opposition are state of the economy, Indo-Pak relations in the wake of the developments at the SAARC summit, demand for Telangana state and Manipur economic blockade.