The parties are: the Congress, CPM, SP, RJD, National Conference, SJP(R), Janata Party, Muslim League, RPI and Independent Buta Singh. At the end of a three-hour meeting, they came out with an action plan: meeting President K.R. Narayanan to seek dismissal of the Maharashtra government, demanding a special meeting of the National Integration Council (NIC) and launching a nation-wide agitation against the Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra.For this, a five-member committee was constituted including Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, P.J. Kurien (Cong), Ranjan Yadav (RJD), Subramanian Swamy (JP) and Buta Singh. While that forms the formal part of the Opposition's unity moves, the more important thing is that today's meeting gives the major anti-BJP partiesa chance to evolve their future strategy on a regular basis which, they hope, will culminate in the ouster of the Vajpayee Government.

Today's discussions are also a crucial indicator of the numbers game. For example, the Congress has 141 Lok Sabha members, the CPM (32), SP (20), RJD (17), RPI (4), National Conference (3), Muslim League (2), Janata Party (1), SJP(R)-1 and the Independent MP Buta Singh. This adds up to 222 in the Lok Sabha, a figure which could be boosted by other allies who were not present in today's meeting.

Like the CPI with nine MPs, DMK (6), Janata Dal (6), RSP (5), TMC (3), Forward Bloc (2), RJP (1), Kerala Congress (1), PWP (1), MIM (1), All India Secular Congress (1), ASDC (1). This means another possible 37 carrying the grand total to 259. A question marks hangs over the BSP's five MPs and a host of other small parties each providing one member.

All this is perilously close to the BJP-led coalition's tally in the House and today's meeting of the Opposition parties is hoping tocash in on this arithmetic. However, a lot still remains to be done. The Congress is still wary of precipitating anything concrete against the Vajpayee government, a fact the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha is aware of. ``Despite all our pleas, the Congress is playing hide and seek. The party is clearly not interested in pulling the BJP Government down at the moment,'' a top Morcha leader said. Mulayam Singh added that he hopes that the Congress would start taking the lead in ousting the Government.

Also, the CPM put in an important warning. ``Such a meeting can achieve meaningful results if prior consultation among the parties are there. Many of the leaders of various parties are not in town and we could not have a meeting of Left parties even,'' wrote CPM general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet to Mulayam Singh. Surjeet met Mulayam individually in the morning indicating that his party is not entirely happy with hasty meetings. For a start though, Bal Thackeray and the Maharashtra government are thetargets. Today's meeting felt that since the Srikrishna Commission had indicted Sena leaders, they had no moral right to remain in power. ``Stern action should be initiated against the Shiv Sena and its supremo Bal Thackeray to maintain credibility of a judicial commission,'' Mulayam Singh said.

Earlier in the morning, about 30 Congress MPs sat on a dharna at Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Parliament demanding sacking of the Manohar Joshi government. More optimism was generated by the presence of Subramanian Swamy who apparently came with AIADMK chief J. Jayalalitha's ``consent''.

And with Sonia Gandhi sending two representatives, more action on this front is expected in the coming days. Among those who attended today's meeting were: Chandra Shekhar, Laloo Prasad Yadav, Saifuddin Soz, E. Ahmed, Ramdas Athawale, Buta Singh, P.J. Kurien, H. Hanumanthappa and Amar Singh.