All India Majilis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday said he was not invited to the meeting of Opposition leaders called by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to discuss the Presidential polls, reported news agency ANI. Owaisi asserted that he would have not participated in the meeting anyway because of Congress.
"I was not invited. Even if I were invited, I would not have participated. The reason is Congress. The TMC party which speaks ill about us, even if they had invited us, we would not have gone just because they invited the Congress," ANI quoted the Lok Sabha member as saying.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee is trying to mobilise opposition parties to put up a united fight against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in the upcoming presidential election. Banerjee invited leaders of 19 political parties, including eight non-Congress Opposition chief ministers – K Chandrashekar Rao (TRS), Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann (AAP), Naveen Patnaik (BJD), Pinarayi Vijayan (CPM), Hemant Soren (JMM), M K Stalin (DMK) and Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena-led MVA).
However, three parties – AAP, TRS and BJD – have already distanced themselves from the meeting amid moves to forge consensus for an opposition-backed candidate. Reports suggest that AAP will consider the issue only after the candidate for the upcoming Presidential election is declared.
{{/usCountry}}However, three parties – AAP, TRS and BJD – have already distanced themselves from the meeting amid moves to forge consensus for an opposition-backed candidate. Reports suggest that AAP will consider the issue only after the candidate for the upcoming Presidential election is declared.
{{/usCountry}}Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray won't be attending the meeting due to his scheduled visit to Ayodhya, according to Shiv Sena.
On Tuesday, the TMC chief met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar in Delhi ahead of the meeting.
The presidential elections will take place on July 18 and the results will be declared on July 21.
The leaders who are likely to take part in the meeting include former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, and his son and Janata Dal (S) leader HD Kumaraswamy, Rashtriya Lok Dal's Jayant Chaudhary and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti.
MK Stalin's Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) will be represented by TR Baalu while Shiv Sena's Subhash Desai will attend the meeting.
Congress leaders including Mallikarjun Kharge, Jairam Ramesh, and Randeep Singh Surjewala are likely to attend the meeting.
(With ANI inputs)