The election season has begun and Congress president Rahul Gandhi has a busy itinerary on Thursday. He will be heading to Valsad in Gujarat to address a public meeting — his first in the state since 2017. In his rally address to Congress’ Sewa Dal National Convention in Ajmer, Rajasthan he took a jibe at the Narendra Modi-led Centre and sounded the poll bugle ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Gandhi has been on the offensive, targeting the BJP over what he says is a scam in the Rafale deal and accusing the ruling government of destroying the credibility of institutions. Gandhi’s rallies come a day after leaders from Opposition parties came together in New Delhi in a show of strength against the BJP-led NDA. Rahul Gandhi (Congress), Mamata Banerjee (TMC), N Chandrababu Naidu (TDP), Sharad Pawar (NCP), Arvind Kejriwal (AAP) and Farooq Abdullah (National Conference) met last night and discussed the idea of a national pre-poll alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections with a common minimum programme.