AIMIM to attend opposition meeting on 2022 presidential election candidate

AURANGABAD: All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) on Monday it will attend a meeting of major opposition parties to deliberate on a consensus candidate for the next month's presidential election.

The AIMIM said that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar has invited the Hyderabad-based outfit for the meeting and the party's Maharashtra unit chief, Imtiaz Jaleel, will attend the gathering.

Mr. @PawarSpeaks invited Barrister @asadowaisi for a meeting to discuss the upcoming presidential elections. Mr. Owaisi thanked Mr. Pawar for the kind invitation and has deputed Mr. @imtiaz_jaleel to represent AIMIM in the meeting.

— AIMIM (@aimim_national) June 20, 2022

The next meeting of major opposition parties to deliberate on a consensus candidate for the presidential poll is likely to be held on Tuesday in New Delhi.

A similar meeting, attended by 17 opposition parties, was convened last week in the national capital. The AIMIM's official Twitter account posted that the party will attend the latest meeting of opposition parties on the presidential election and Aurangabad MP Jaleel will represent it at the meet.

When contacted, Jaleel said, "NCP chief Sharad Pawar had personally called AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi and I will attend the meeting on my party's behalf. We shall see what happens in the meeting and then decide the party's stand on the presidential election."

Pawar, former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi and National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah have all declined the opposition leaders' request to contest the election for the country's top constitutional post.

The process to elect a new president began on June 15. The last date for filing nominations is June 29. The polls, if necessary, will be held on July 18 and the counting on July 21.