There will be no winter session of Parliament this time because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the government said on Tuesday.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi has said that all parties favour scrapping the session to avoid any Covid spread and jump straight to the Budget session in January.

Mr Joshi confirmed this in a letter responding to Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary's demand for a session to discuss controversial new farm laws that are at the core of massive farmer protests on highways near Delhi.

The minister replied that he had held discussions with leaders of all parties and the consensus was not to call a session due to COVID-19, reported NDTV.