New Delhi: In a major political development, 17 Opposition parties, which were led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, have on Wednesday agreed to field a joint candidate for the Presidential election, which is scheduled to be held on July 18.
At the meeting of the Opposition parties convened by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, all outfits unanimously proposed the name of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar as the Presidential candidate. However, the Maratha strongman disagreed to be part of the race.
"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," Pawar tweeted after the meeting.
The meeting adopted a resolution: "In the forthcoming Presidential election held in the year of the 75th anniversary of Indian independence, we have decided to field a common candidate who will truly serve as the custodian of the Constitution and stop the Modi government from doing further damage to India's social fabric and democracy."
Following Pawar's disagreement, according to sources, the West Bengal Chief Minister suggested the names of Gopalkrishna Gandhi and Farooq Abdullah as Opposition candidates for the Presidential poll. On the proposal, leaders of Opposition parties stated that they need some time to seek the opinion of party leaders. The name of the common candidate for the Presidential poll would be announced in the next proposed meeting, which would be convened by Pawar either on June 20 or June 21.
While addressing a press conference after the meeting, Mamata Banerjee said: "Opposition leaders have adopted a resolution to field a common candidate in the forthcoming Presidential poll. A candidate who can truly serve as the custodian of the Constitution and stop the Modi government from doing further damage to Indian democracy and India's social fabric."
The 17 parties to attend the meeting include Congress, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), NCP, Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), Samajwadi Party (SP), Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP), National Conference (NC), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML), Shiv Sena, DMK, RJD, RLD, Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).
The leaders who attended the meeting were Mallikajun Kharge, the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Jairam Ramesh and Randeep Singh Surjewala, TMC's Mamata Banerjee, Abhishek Banerjee, TMC's general secretary and Lok Sabha MP, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, who is deputy leader of TMC in the Rajya Sabha, JMM's Hafizul Hasan and Vijay Hansdak, NCP's Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel, JD-S' HD Deve Gowda, and HD Kumaraswamy, Akhilesh Yadav (SP), Mehbooba Mufti (PDP), Omar Abdullah (NC), NK Premachandran (RSP), E Kareem (CPM), Binoy Biswan (CPI), Shiv Sena's Priyanka Chaturvedi and Subhash Desai, Manoj Jha RJD), Jayant Chaudhary (RLD), Dipankar Bhattacharya (CPI-ML), ET Basheer (IUML) and Sudheendra Kulkarni, a member of a civil society group.
Parties like Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), YSR Congress, and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) didn't attend the meeting due to some other reason. However, they have agreed to support the common candidate fielded by the Opposition parties.
Meanwhile, the process to file nominations for the Presidential election began on Wednesday with the Election Commission issuing a notification calling upon the electors to fill the vacancy. The election is scheduled to be held on July 18.
In her opening remarks at the Opposition meeting, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said: "For us, the Presidential election is a prelude to 2024. In the year of 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav', we have decided to field a common candidate who can truly serve as custodian of the Constitution."
As per sources, Mamata said during the last eight years of the BJP rule, the government has been exposed as it was forced to roll back the draconian farm laws. It's really condemnable that the Prime Minister didn't even condemn the death of 700 farmers, she said in her opening remarks.
"The rate of unemployment is on the rise. The economy is in the worst condition as the rupee has fallen to an all-time low at about $80. The Centre-state relations have reached their lowest during the BJP government as the ruling party has launched an attack on the federal structure that has created blockades in development works," she said at the meeting.
On hate speech, the West Bengal CM maintained: "The BJP government is bulldozing the houses and properties without any legal proceeding."
Hitting out the BJP government over the spate of killings in Kashmir, the TMC supremo said: "The BJP government's Kashmir policy is a disaster as it has completely failed to achieve the stated objectives, including resettlement of the Kashmiri Pandits. Indeed Kashmiri Pandits have now turned hostile to the BJP. We note with distress that for the first time Jammu & Kashmir will not be participating in the Presidential election because its legislative assembly stands dissolved."
"The BJP government has no future at all without money power, ED power, and the power of politics of polarisation. This is because the power of people's support is fast diminishing due to a ballooning record of betrayals and bad governance. It is in this context that all Opposition parties have come together with a firm resolve to give hope to the people of India that a credible alternative is not only necessary but also possible," the sources said quoting West Bengal CM.
Expressing her concern for Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Mamata said: "The way Rahul Gandhi is being grilled by central agencies is condemnable. The leaders of other Opposition parties are also being targeted by the probe agencies."
The West Bengal CM also wished speedy recovery of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the sources said.