Ahead of the Budget Session of Parliament, Congress top brass, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party president Sonia Gandhi, today held a meeting to decide on the strategy ahead. Meeting of the Congress core group was held on the eve of the three month-long Budget Session, expected to be a stormy affair. Government is going to face problem over the helicopter deal with allegations of kickback. It has already said that it was not averse to a JPC on the helicopter deal with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath stating, "we are open for a Joint Parliamentary Committee if this satisfies everybody."

Apart from the Cong, LS Speaker Meira Kumar also held an all-party meeting.