Opposition to meet today & plan for Parl, polls

A day ahead of the results of the Assembly election in five states and the beginning of the last full-length session of the Narendra Modi government, Opposition leaders are coming together on Monday to discuss a coordinated policy in the Session. Rafale deal row and farmers' crisis are expected to be on top of the agenda.

Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu, who has been working on bringing together opposition parties together since early November, has sent out invites to a wide range of leaders as well as the chief ministers of some state. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi may attend the meeting.

Sources said Rafale deal, agrarian crisis and the imbroglio within the CBI will be the top issues. Last month, both Naidu and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee had withdrawn permissions to the CBI from conducting raids or investigations in their respective states. Apart from that, the roadmap to 2019 will be discussed as well as the current political scenario. As the Congress is expected to score big in these elections, this could add heft to the grand old party's diminishing stature among the regional parties.

Apart from the Congress, invites have been sent to the Nationalist Congress Party, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, National Conference, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Aam Aadmi Party, Rashtriya Lok Dal, Forward Bloc, Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Loktantrik Janata Dal, Trinamool Congress, Janata Dal (Secular), DMK among others.

Leaders who are likely to be present include Sharad Pawar, Arvind Kejriwal, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Stalin, Sitaram Yechury, D Raja, Farooq Abdullah, S Sudhakar Reddy, Sharad Yadav.

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Puducherry CM V Narayanaswamy, Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal are those who have been sent invites. Banerjee, however, is unlikely to attend the meeting.

On Sunday, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leaders MK Stalin and Kanimozhi met UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to wish her on account of her birthday. Soon after, Congress president, Rahul Gandhi tweeted, "Shri Stalin & senior members of the DMK, visited Soniaji in Delhi today, to wish her on her birthday. We had a warm & cordial meeting & discussed a range of issues. I look forward to continuing our dialogue & to strengthening our alliance, that has stood the test of time [sic]."