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KCR's party, AAP, BJD to skip Mamata's opposition meet on prez polls: 10 points
Mamata Banerjee holds the opposition meeting as the Congress protests over the National Herald case probe enters day 3 in Delhi.
As Mamata Banerjee holds a key meeting of opposition leaders on Wednesday in Delhi, K Chandrashekar Rao's Telangana Rashtra Samithi and Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party will not register their attendance at the huddle ahead of the July 18 presidential election. The opposition meet comes at a time when the Congress is locked in a standoff with the BJP over the questioning of Rahul and Sonia Gandhi in the National Herald case. The West Bengal chief minister had sent an invite to 22 non-BJP leaders, including eight chief ministers. Naveen Patnaik's BJD too has said it won't be attending the meeting.
Here are ten points on Mamata Banerjee's big opposition meeting:
1. With KCR's party and the AAP dropping out, the meeting may not have a turnout that was initially expected. Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena had already said last week that he won't be able to mark his presence because of the Ayodhya visit.
2. Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday met NCP chief Sharad Pawar in Mumbai before her arrival in Delhi. While the meeting was reportedly targeted at convincing Pawar to be the opposition's candidate for the presidential post, his message to the opposition was "to prevent dissent in the opposition camp…,” a person aware of the details told HT, asking not to be named.
3. "With the presidential election around the corner, Hon'ble CM of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee, with an initiative of strong & effective opposition against the divisive forces, has reached out to the opposition CMs and leaders to participate in a joint meeting," the Trinamool Congress had said in a statement on Saturday.
4. By building a consensus on the presidential candidate, the opposition aims to put up united fight against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance. Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM said it was not invited. Owaisi has been a vocal critic of the BJP.
5. But Arvind Kejriwal's AAP will also be absent. "Aam Aadmi Party will not participate in the meeting of Opposition parties to be held today regarding the presidential Elections. AAP will consider the matter only after the presidential candidate is declared," a source was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
6. Sonia Gandhi, who recently tested positive for Covid, is in hospital. She was among the leaders invited. Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge - on the Mamata meet - told news agency ANI: "MK Stalin, K Chandrashekar Rao, Uddhav Thackeray and many big leaders aren't participating...we want unity and a unanimous (presidential) candidate."
7. "Electing a candidate (for the upcoming presidential elections) can't happen without Congress as we have nearly 50 per cent votes. But we will still go to the meeting to fight together... as we don't want to break the unity. We want to fight against BJP," Kharge added.
8. The presidential elections will take place on July 18 and the results will be declared on July 21.
9. President Ram Nath Kovind's tenure ends on July 24.
10. The opposition meeting - which was expected to be one of the biggest in recent months - comes amid buzz over the preparations for the 2024 national elections. While the Congress has been trying to revive its fortunes, Mamata Banerjee has been trying to bring together the opposition leaders. Telangana chief minister KCR is also likely to float a new political party at the national level to fulfil his ambition of playing a key role in the national politics.
(With inputs from ANI)
