West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress is attending as is her Delhi counterpart and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal. But Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party are not at a meeting of opposition leaders that began in the capital a short while ago, soon after Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his mother and chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Sonia Gandhi arrived.

The meeting, a day before key results in assembly elections, has been called to work out a strategy for what is being called a “grand alliance” against the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year. It has been arranged by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu and is also being attended by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief MK Stalin and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav and his sister Misa Bharti.

Others attending are Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan , Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference,Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, former Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav, D Raja of the Communist Party of India and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda of the Janata Dal (Secular).

The major issues to be raised at the crucial meeting are likely to be agrarian distress and allegations of corruption against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government at the Centre. They will also chalk out a strategy to counter the BJP during the Winter Session of Parliament starting on Tuesday.

“The meeting will focus on identifying issues that will be important for the people and can form the bedrock of the Opposition’s campaign against the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in the coming months,” said a senior opposition leader who asked not to be named.

A second opposition leader pointed out that there will not be any effort to stitch a national, pre-poll, UPA-like alliance. Parties such as the Trinamool Congress and the Left have already expressed their reservations about a national pre-poll alliance. But doors will be kept open for state-wise pacts to minimise a split in Opposition votes.

Apart from the allegations of corruption and the farm crisis, the opposition parties are likely to bring up the economic situation and the after-effects of demonetisation, the feud in the CBI, and incidents of cow vigilantism.

A joint resolution is also expected after the meeting, said the first leader cited above.

BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya mocked the scheduled meeting of opposition parties and said they should first declare a prime ministerial candidate before thinking of ousting the Narendra Modi government.

“It’s really good to see opposition parties trying to forge an alliance to fight against us. But, first, let them declare their prime ministerial candidate, then they should dream of fighting against us and ousting us,” he said.

First Published: Dec 10, 2018 13:38 IST