Opposition parties likely to meet soon to evolve strategy to fight Centre

The last meeting was in May 2020, when 22 parties met virtually, 50 days into lockdown

With friction between some States and the Centre on the rise, Opposition parties are likely to have a joint meeting soon to chalk out a strategy. The last such meeting was in May 2020, when 22 parties met virtually, 50 days into the lockdown. Talks are on and so far no date has been picked. In the last few days, three Chief Ministers -- Kerala’s Pinarayi Vijayan, Jharkhand’s Hemant Soren and Odisha’s Naveen Patnaik, have demanded rationalisation of the vaccine policy, demanding centralisation of the procurement and universally free vaccines. The Supreme Court’s observations on Wednesday, calling the Centre’s paid COVID-19 vaccination policy for the 18-44 age group “arbitrary” and “irrational”, has added ammunition to the Opposition efforts to corner the Union government.