Mamata Banerjee meeting Sharad Pawar comes amid speculations that the latter is not keen to become the Opposition candidate for the upcoming Presidential election.
New Delhi: A day before the big Opposition meeting in New Delhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who has summoned the meeting, met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar in New Delhi. The meeting called by Banerjee will reportedly decide on the Opposition candidate for the upcoming Presidential election.
In a tweet, Sharad Pawar said, “Ms. Mamata Banerjee called upon me at my residence in Delhi today. We had a detailed discussion on various issues related to our country.”
Mamata Banerjee meeting Sharad Pawar comes amid speculations that the latter is not keen to become the Opposition candidate for the upcoming Presidential election. Although NCP did not make it clear whether Sharad Pawar has completely junked the idea or not, it is believed that the leader has conveyed his thoughts to several Opposition leaders.
General secretary of CPI(M) Sitaram Yechury said on Tuesday that Pawar has refused to be the Opposition parties’ nominee for the presidential election. Pawar had met Yechury, CPI general secretary D Raja, and NCP leaders Praful Patel and P C Chacko in Delhi and conveyed to them his decision.
Meanwhile, the Congress has reportedly confirmed its presence in Mamata Banerjee’s meeting of Opposition leaders to discuss on the presidential candidate.
According to a statement issued by the Trinamool Congress earlier, Mamata Banerjee had shot off a letter for the meeting to Arvind Kejriwal (Chief Minister, Delhi), Pinarayi Vijayan (Chief Minister, Kerela), Naveen Patnaik (Chief Minister, Odisha), Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao (Chief Minister, Telangana), Thiru M K Stalin (Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu), Uddhav Thackeray (Chief Minister, Maharashtra), Hemant Soren (Chief Minister, Jharkhand), Bhagwant Singh Mann (Chief Minister, Punjab), Sonia Gandhi (President, INC), Lalu Prasad Yadav (President, RJD), D Raja (General Secretary, CPI), Sitaram Yechury (General Secretary, CPIM), Akhilesh Yadav (President, Samajwadi Party), Sharad Pawar (President, NCP), Jayant Chaudhary (National President, RLD), H D Kumaraswamy (former CM of Karnataka), H D Deve Gowda (MP, former PM of India), Farooq Abdullah (President, JKNC), Mehbooba Mufti (President, PDP), S Sukhbir Singh Badal (President, Shiromani Akali Dal), Pawan Chamling (President, Sikkim Democratic Front), K M Kader Mohideen (President, IUML).
In the letter, Mamata Banerjee has written, “The Presidential elections are around the corner, presenting the perfect opportunity for all progressive opposition parties to reconvene and deliberate on the future course of Indian politics. The election is monumental because it gives legislators the opportunity to participate in deciding the Head of our State who is the custodian of our democracy. At a time when our democracy is going through troubling times, I believe that a fruitful confluence of opposition voices is the need of the hour; to echo the deprived and unrepresented communities.”
