Opposition parties to counter centre, Many issues including polls

The Congress and the other Opposition parties are planning a cohesive strategy and a joint action to counter the Centre on various issues during Parliament's Budget session, which began on Monday.

At a meeting of Opposition parties at the residence of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Monday evening, the leaders decided to oppose the government's move to hold simultaneous elections to assemblies and the Lok Sabha, 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in single-brand retail, and the proposed changes in labour laws.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly pushed for simultaneous elections, saying a continuous cycle of elections across the country harms development works due to enforcement of the model code of conduct, besides incurring a huge cost on the exchequer.

The Opposition is of the view that the idea behind the move is that the BJP wants to make the elections "Modi-centric" and ride on his popularity.