New Delhi: Monsoon session of parliament will begin tomorrow. It will continue till 12 August. 11 bills are likely to come before Lok Sabha while 45 before Rajya Sabha during the session. 122nd constitutional amendment for Goods and Services Tax(GST) will attract attention throughout the session. The government is hopeful of a breakthrough on the key GST bill, which it wants passed during the session, following a recent meeting between senior ministers and top Congress leaders. The two sides are likely to meet again during the session.

On Friday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Information and Broadcasting Minister M Venkaiah Naidu had met Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma to iron out differences on key clauses of the GST bill.

The contentious Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014, known as the GST Bill was moved in the Upper House in August last year after being passed by Lok Sabha.

The government is hopeful of the passage of the GST bill in this session amid indications that a number of regional parties have broken ranks with Congress on the issue and are willing to extend their support to the crucial economic reform measure.

Besides the GST, another key legislation pending passage is the Whistle Blowers Protection (Amendment) Bill, 2015, which was moved in December last year but the discussion on it had remained inconclusive. In the Budget Session this year, this bill could not be taken up for debate.

In the Lok Sabha, important pending bills include the Consumer Protection Bill 2015 and the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amendment Bill, 2015.

In changed equations after recent Rajya Sabha polls, NDA enjoys strength of 74 MPs while UPA figure has come down to 71. Regional parties however enjoy greater strength with 89 MPs.

With inputs from agency