18 Oppn parties to meet once a month for better coordination

Eighteen opposition parties have decided to meet once a month to discuss various crucial issues and maintain better coordination among themselves to unitedly take on the government.

TMC leader Derek O'Brien announced this after a meeting of the opposition parties to decide on their vice presidential candidate on Tuesday.

"The Congress party and we have agreed that we will hold such meetings once every month," he said.

The TMC leader said various key issues such as farmer suicides, the fallout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and demonetisation, and the role of some governors were discussed in the meeting.

These issues are likely to be raised in the upcoming Parliament session. Some of the opposition parties have accused Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi and West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi of compromising on constitutional propriety.

The Congress earlier alleged that the role of governors appointed by the NDA government had been questionable, be it in Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal or Puducherry.

In Tuesday's meeting, the opposition leaders were also unanimous in condemning the government for targeting all the opposition parties, be it Lalu Yadav's RJD in Bihar, the Congress or the Aam Aadmi Party.

O'Brien said this issue would also be raised in Parliament. The Trinamool Congress leader said there was "good opposition coordination" on the vice presidential election and that it was likely to continue.