Opposition Parties to draft a joint declaration to articulate a common stand.

Ahead of Lok Sabha elections, opposition parties have come together to of draft a joint declaration which will articulate a common stand.

According to a few sources, the declaration aims at challenging the government’s claims on job creation and the state of agriculture along with proposing alternative and remedial measures. A week or two ago, a meet which was held in Sharad Pawar’s residence included preliminary talks on a ‘joint strategy. Congress was given the task of finalizing a draft document which is likely be discussed on February 26th.

The opposition has so far agreed on broadly two points:

1)   A state by state understanding to reduce division of votes

2)  To maximize one on one fight with the BJP, and identify issues which can be projected as a joint vision or a Common Minimum Programme (CMP)

The CMP aims to bring electoral reforms in the country in the context of the issue over the use of EVMs and VVPATs.

The meeting will be attended by Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerjee, N Chandrababu Naidu, Farooq Abdullah, and Arvind Kejriwal, Kanimozhi amongst others.