At least 17 parties attend Mamata-led opposition meet for Presidential polls: Key points | India News

NEW DELHI: At least 17 parties attended the opposition meeting convened by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to deliberate on consensus presidential candidate.
The election of the President of India will be held on July 18.
Here are the latest developments:
17 parties attend opposition meeting
Leaders of the Congress, Samajwadi Party, NCP, DMK, RJD and the Left parties attended the meeting called by the Trinamool Congress supremo, while the AAP, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Odisha’s ruling BJD skipped it.
Leaders of Shiv Sena, CPI, CPM, CPI(ML), National Conference, PDP, JD(S), RSP, IUML, RLD and the JMM attended the meeting, which took place on a day the nomination for the presidential election began.
Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel of the NCP, Mallikarjun Kharge, Jairam Ramesh and Randeep Surjewala of the Congress, H D Deve Gowda and H D Kumaraswamy of the JD(S), Akhilesh Yadav of the SP, Mehbooba Mufti of the PDP, Omar Abdullah of the National Conference were among the prominent leaders in the meeting.
Who skipped the meeting?
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) skipped the meeting at the Constitution Club in the national capital, besides the Aam Aadmi Party, TRS and the BJD.
Mamata Banerjee last week invited leaders of 19 political parties, including seven chief ministers, for a meeting in the national capital to produce a “confluence of opposition voices” for the election on July 18.
Candidate cannot be elected without Congress: Kharge
Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said that candidate for the upcoming Presidential elections cannot be elected without the Congress.
“Electing a candidate (for the upcoming Presidential elections) can’t happen without Congress as we have nearly 50 per cent votes. But, we will still go to the meeting to fight together … as we don’t want to break the unity. We want to fight against BJP,” Kharge said.
“Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin, Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and many big leaders aren’t participating. We want unity and a unanimous (Presidential) candidate,” he added.
Owaisi ‘not invited’ to Mamata’s meeting
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi said he was not invited to the meeting.
Speaking to ANI over the phone, Owaisi said, “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.”
Mamata-Pawar meeting in Delhi
Mamata Banerjee met Sharad Pawar at his residence in Delhi on Tuesday ahead of the opposition leaders’ meeting to discuss Presidential polls.

During Tuesday’s meeting, the TMC supremo tried to convince the veteran leader to be the joint opposition nominee for the presidential election.
Pawar has been one of the senior-most politicians of the country. He has been the fulcrum of the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government since it was formed two-and-a-half years ago.
Pawar refused to be opposition parties’ nominee
NCP chief Sharad Pawar has refused to be the opposition parties’ nominee for the presidential election, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said on Tuesday.
Pawar met Yechury, CPI general secretary D Raja, and NCP leaders Praful Patel and PC Chacko in Delhi and conveyed to them his decision to not contest the election.
“I have been informed that Pawar will not be the opposition face for the presidential polls, other names are under consideration,” Yechury said on Tuesday.
Opposition sources said Pawar was not keen to enter a battle which he is destined to lose at this point in his political career.

-With agency inputs