Mamata's Prez poll meeting: List of parties attending and skipping
New Delhi/IBNS: With a fresh bid to unite the anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) forces ahead of 2024 General Elections, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has taken a forward step calling a meeting to discuss the Opposition's strategy for the upcoming Presidential poll due to be held Jul 18.
Banerjee, who is already in the national capital, started off her Delhi tour meeting Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar, who was speculated to be the Opposition's Presidential poll candidate, Tuesday.
However, Pawar has turned down the offer to contest the poll.
Which parties are attending?
Quite surprisingly, the Congress, which accuses Banerjee's TMC of breaking the Opposition unity, has decided to send its representatives to the meeting.
"... It's okay if someone has called a meeting. For the sake of Opposition unity, we will attend," said Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who along with Jairam Ramesh and Randeep Singh Surjewala are likely to attend the meeting.
Despite criticising Banerjee's "unilateral" move to call the meeting without "prior mutual consultation", the Left parties- CPI-M and CPI- are likely to attend the meeting.
Other parties Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), JMM, Shiv Sena, NC, PDP are likely among the attendees.
Which parties are likely to skip?
As per media reports, Delhi's ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), fence sitters Telangana Rashtriya Samithi (TRS) and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) are likely to skip the meeting.
Important to note, AAP and TRS are rivals of both the BJP and Congress.
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