Mamata, Akhilesh agree on new front

Three key opposition parties in India have agreed to keep both the Congress and the BJP at an arm's length, indicating they will follow a policy of treating the two parties equally. This was decided after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav met Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata yesterday. Mamata, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, will also meet Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Minister of Odisha who heads the Biju Janata Dal, next week. The strategy is aimed at countering the BJP's attempt to portray Congress MP Rahul Gandhi as a key leader of a grouping of opposition parties. The BJP has been trying to get Gandhi to apologise after he alleged opposition leaders' microphones are muted in India's parliament during a speech in London recently. Other opposition parties now suspect the BJP has been targeting them using Gandhi.