A meeting of opposition parties convened by West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) suupremo Mamata Banerjee to build consensus on fielding a joint candidate against the NDA in the presidential election was held on Wednesday with leaders of 17 parties in attendance.
Leaders of the Congress, Samajwadi Party, NCP, DMK, RJD, Shiv Sena, CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), National Conference, PDP, JD(S), RSP, IUML, RLD, JMM and the Left parties attended the meeting, while the AAP, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Odisha's ruling BJD skipped it.
Mamata Banerjee, who had met NCP chief Sharad Pawar yesterday, proposed his name as soon as the meeting started, reported NDTV. However, the Maratha strongman refused to run for President, saying "he still has active political innings to play", the report added.
However, CPI leader Binoy Viswam said that Pawar refused to be the Opposition candidate due to his health. "In today's Opposition meeting, all parties proposed the name of Sharad Pawar for Presidential poll, but he said he cannot take this up now due to his health. All parties requested him to reconsider his decision," he said.
After Pawar's refusal, Banerjee proposed the names of Gopalkrishna Gandhi and Farooq Abdullah, NDTV reported.
The presidential elections will take place on July 18 and the results will be declared on July 21. June 29 is the last date for nominations.
