On July 18, presidential elections will be held, and the results will be announced on July 21.
New Delhi: The meeting, which was overshadowed by the absence of five significant parties, was marred by “chaos” over a resolution that Mamata Banerjee was accused of imposing on the parties without warning, according to sources. Many said that the meeting’s sole purpose was to discuss the presidential race.
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who convened the conference, later told reporters that the opposition needed to come together to talk about “the country’s bulldozing.”
Mamata Banerjee called 22 parties to the conference, but only 16 showed up. They set a deadline of June 21 for nominating a presidential candidate to face the BJP’s and its partners’ nominee. Mamata Banerjee, Sharad Pawar, and Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge will meet with representatives from other parties to try to reach an agreement on a name.
No one had any other ideas when Sharad Pawar, 81, declined Mamata Banerjee’s offer to be the opposition’s presidential candidate. She took the names of Gopal Gandhi and Farooq Abdullah, the head of the National Conference, at the end of the meeting.
In a tweet, Sharad Pawar said, “I sincerely appreciate the leaders of opposition parties for suggesting my name as a candidate for the election of the President of India, at the meeting held in Delhi. However I like to state that I have humbly declined the proposal of my candidature.”
Sharad Pawar had the support of many parties, including Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, Left, the Congress and the Shiv Sena. “Everyone will rally behind Sharad Pawar if he agrees. But Pawarji does not agree, we will discuss,” Ms Banerjee told reporters.
Later in the evening, Trinamool’s Derek O’Brien tweeted, “17 Opposition parties to field JOINT CANDIDATE for Presidential poll. (Can that number can go up to 20) That’s a good day in the office”.
On July 18, presidential elections will be held, and the results will be announced on July 21. June 29 is the last date for nominations.
While Mamata Banerjee’s opponents, the Congress and the Left, attended the summit, leaders such as K Chandrashekhar Rao of Telangana, who had bonded with his Bengal counterpart over their shared goal of defeating the BJP, decided to skip it.
The Akali Dal and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also declined to attend, citing the presence of the Congress as a reason. The AAP stated that it will “only assess the topic after the Presidential candidate is announced.” “There is no question of sharing any platform with the Congress,” the TRS stated.
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