Ahead of Winter Session, Oppn huddle to strategise game plan

New Delhi: Putting up a united front against the Centre ahead of the Winter Session, major Opposition parties met here on Monday to deliberate on the various strategies to tackle the government, including demonetisation and the Kashmir unrest.

Leaders from various Opposition parties including the Trinamool Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal (Uinted) and the CPI(M) met here under the leadership of the Indian National Congress, to discuss a host of issues to be raised during the parliament session that is scheduled to begin on November 16.

The meeting comes ahead of an all-party meeting convened by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan for later in the day.

Representatives of the Opposition parties met the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad in his room in Parliament House and discussed the strategy on how to unitedly take on the government in view of the hardships faced by the common man after the denomination of high-valued notes.

The meeting saw archrivals TMC and CPI(M) coming together on a common platform against the government.

Among those who were present included Sharad Yadav (JD-U), Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), Sudip Bandopadhyay and Derek O'Brien of TMC, CPI's D Raja, Prem Chand Gupta (RJD), Sushil Kumar (JMM) and M Rajamohan Reddy of YSR Congress.

Besides Azad, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and the party's deputy leader in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma were present.

Opposition SP, BSP and AAP that have strongly criticised the government on the demonetisation issue gave the meeting a miss, besides DMK, AIADMK and NCP.

A senior Congress leader said some of the opposition leaders could not attend the meet as they were not in town, but maintained that they were part of a united opposition.