Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has convened an all-party meeting on November 21, the eve of winter session of Parliament, to discuss with floor leaders of various parties the issues they wish to raise and to ensure smooth functioning of the House.

The meeting, to be held at noon on Wednesday, is likely to be attended by Leader of the House in Lok Sabha Sushilkumar Shinde, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, JD(U) President Sharad Yadav, CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta, RJD Chief Lalu Prasad, among others.

Though such a meeting is customary, the November 21 meeting acquires significance as the monsoon session of Parliament was a virtual washout with several days being wasted due to disruptions and adjournments.

With TMC announcing that it will bring a no-confidence motion against the government, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his senior ministers have reached out to the UPA allies and supporting parties to ensure it has the numbers in such an eventuality.

The government has said it is ready for any motion that other political parties wish to bring in Parliament.

BJP and other opposition parties plan to raise the FDI in multi-brand issue and may seek division of votes after a discussion. Other issues include coal allocation anomalies in which the opposition has targeted the Prime Minister as well as the recent scams. Price rise and corruption are the other issues.

Singh had also invited BJP leaders Swaraj, her Rajya Sabha counterpart Arun Jaitley and NDA Working Chairman L K Advani for dinner yesterday to discuss contentious issues and garner opposition support for passage of some crucial Bill.

The dinner was, however, cancelled at the request of Swaraj following the death of Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray.