New Delhi:
Leaders of seven regional parties including those headed by Jayalalithaa and Nitish Kumar met with the Left on the first day of parliament and decided to work together to counter attempts by the Congress to push through legislation including six anti-corruption laws.
The 11 parties have about 94 MPs between them.
"All anti-corruption bills that the government has woken up to after five years, we want that they be properly discussed. We don't want the House to become a platform to launch the agenda of the ruling party before the elections,'' CPM leader Sitaram Yechury warned.
They say that the PM's ruling coalition is reduced to a lame-duck and important decisions must be taken by the new government that emerges after the national elections that are due by May.
The Federal Front as it has been described by some of the players has however made it clear that members will not form pre-poll alliances.
The potentially contentious issue of leadership of the new formation packed with powerhouses like Mulayam Singh Yadav, was also not discussed. "Our common programme will be our leader,'' said Janata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav in a clumsy attempt to side-step the issue. Similar experiments in the past have collapsed because of ego clashes between leaders.