India, Dec. 8 -- The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi on Sunday boycotted the government's customary tea party on the eve of the legislature's winter session, citing unprecedented agrarian distress, the government's failure to waive farm loans, the absence of remunerative prices for agricultural produce, rising unemployment, and rampant corruption across government departments.

Announcing the decision, Congress Legislature Party leader Vijay Wadettiwar alleged that the government had deliberately attempted to undermine the opposition by sending invitations to individual MLAs instead of opposition parties. "This is totally unconstitutional and an act of suppressing established norms of the legislature," he said.

Wadettiwar also noted that, f...