Obama likely to address Parliament on Nov 9

A day's joint sitting of Parliament is likely on November 9 to enable US President Barack Obama to address the members while the Winter session could be convened from the third week of November as usual.

Though there was no official word on it, government sources said there was a fresh plan to hold the Winter session from November 22 to December 22. Parliamentary Affairs Minister P K Bansal had earlier said that the month-long session could be convened from November 8.

Obama, who took over as US President in January last year, will be undertaking his first state visit to India for pushing the bilateral ties to new heights. Former US President Bill Clinton had addressed a joint session of Parliament during his visit in 2000. Obama's predecessor George W Bush, who visited India in March 2006, could not have the honour of addressing the joint session of Parliament of the world's largest democracy.

Initially, Bush was tipped to address the joint session but the plan was dropped when the Left parties threatened to boycott it. The Left parties were critical of Bush over the war in Iraq.

Among others to have addressed the Indian MPs at a joint session was the then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who visited India in August 2007.