TMC to boycott all-party meet

Amidst the acrimony between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the recent violence in West Bengal, the TMC has decided to boycott the all-party meeting called by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister on July 16 on the eve of the Monsoon session of the Parliament.

However, the party would send its representative to a meeting of all political parties called by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan the same evening.

"The TMC has decided to boycott the all-party meeting," TMC national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Derek O' Brien said on Monday about the customary meeting that the Parliamentary Affairs Minister calls on the eve of a Parliament session.

At the same time, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee will attend the meeting called by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan in the evening of July 16, O'Brien added.

The Mamata Banerjee-led party, along with the Congress and the Left parties, had earlier boycotted the midnight event organised by the government in Parliament on June 30 for the rollout of the GST.

On Tuesday, the TMC will attend a meeting of 17 opposition parties, including the Congress and the Left, here to finalise the candidate for the August 5 vice-presidential election. During that meeting, "We will raise four-five issues," O'Brien said.

"The issues the party is likely to raise are related to demonetisation, the effect of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rollout, farmers' suicide and the members of the ruling party attempting to incite communal passion and destroy the federal structure of the country", he said, adding that the issue of central ministers "fanning hatred" in the society would also be discussed.