West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress President Mamata Banerjee will meet several leaders of various political parties to reach a consensus on forming a joint face for the presidential election against the NDA candidate to be held on July 18.
Earlier, Mamata Banerjee met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar separately at his residence in Mumbai and tried to persuade him as the common opposition candidate for the top constitutional post. Mamata Banerjee had earlier written letters to 22 leaders including Left parties, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Chief Ministers of opposition-ruled states.
Here are five updates ahead of the big meeting of opposition leaders today:
Leaders who attended the meeting included former minister HD Deve Gowda and his son and Janata Dal(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy, Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Jayanta Chowdhury and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti.
MK Stalin’s Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) will be represented by TR Balu while Shiv Sena’s Subhash Desai will attend the meeting. Samajwadi Party and National Conference will also participate in the meeting.
Sources said that the Congress will also participate in the meeting to be held at the Constitution Club. Congress leaders including Mallikarjun Kharge, Jairam Ramesh and Randeep Singh Surjewala are likely to attend the meeting. Communist Party of India general secretary D Raja said on Tuesday that Left parties are likely to attend the meeting. The CPI(M) and other Left parties are rivals of the ruling TMC in Bengal.
Parties cannot attend today’s meeting:
Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal, which has been invited, is unlikely to attend the meeting.
Former BJP ally Shiromani Akali Dal has also been invited for the meeting but is unlikely to attend the meeting.
“Aam Aadmi Party will not participate in the meeting of opposition parties to be held today regarding the presidential election. AAP will consider the matter only after the announcement of its presidential candidate,” sources reported on Wednesday, ANI reported.
With the numbers in its favor – the ruling NDA has almost half the vote of the electoral college – and with the likely support of fence-sitters such as the BJD, AIADMK and YSRCP, its candidate will likely be through a contest.