West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee is set to hold an important meeting of Opposition parties on Wednesday to formulate a joint strategy for the upcoming presidential polls.
The meeting comes one day after Mamata flew to Delhi to meet with National Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar to try and convince him to be the common opposition candidate. However, Pawar turned down the proposal. The NCP chief said that he wants to remain in active politics.
Last week, Mamata Banerjee wrote to 22 opposition leaders and chief ministers requesting them to attend the meeting on June 15 at the Constitution Club in New Delhi.
Non-BJP parties, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, were requested to attend the meeting.
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will be skipping the meeting.
According to sources, the TRS does not want to share a platform with the Congress. Meanwhile, the AAP said, “Will consider the issue only after the candidate for the upcoming Presidential election is declared.”
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and CPI general secretary D Raja said the top leadership will not attend the meeting called by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief.
