Mamata Banerjee, MK Stalin to attend all-party meet on G20 presidency; KCR likely to skip

New Delhi: As India takes over the presidency of the G20 for one year from December 1, 2022, heads of political parties will attend a meeting convened by the central government tomorrow to discuss the way forward. As per government sources, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president JP Nadda, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Trinamool congress president and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Telugu Desam Party president Chandrababu Naidu and Biju Janata Dal president and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik are amongst those who will attend the meeting on Monday evening at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Amid the political war between the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and BJP, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is unlikely to attend the meeting.

"I have spoken to all the leaders and party presidents personally. However, as of now, we have no confirmation from some leaders including KCR," Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi told ANI.

"This is a meeting in which the party presidents were only invited and therefore we have requested them to attend. No representatives would be attending on behalf of presidents," Joshi added.

K Keshava Rao of TRS told ANI, "We do not have any information about our leader attending the meeting on Monday."

YSR Congress president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy has already conveyed to the Centre his unavailability for Monday's meeting.

"The President of India is visiting Andhra Pradesh and therefore we will not be able to attend a meeting in Delhi," YSR parliamentary party leader Vijaysai Reddy told ANI.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) will not be attending this meeting because the party chief Lalu Prasad Yadav is currently undergoing medical treatment in Singapore. So far the government has no confirmation from the Janata Dal (United) whether Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will be attending the meeting.

Pertinent to mention, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to chair the meeting. Further, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Leader of House in Rajya Sabha and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman are likely to be present on behalf of the government. 

During this meeting, a detailed presentation will be made for the political parties for the lead-up to the G20 presidency for India and what it means for the coming year.

The first G20 Sherpa meeting under India's presidency started in Rajasthan's Udaipur on Sunday. This is the first of the 200 such meetings that will take place across 55 cities in India over the next year.

Indonesia had earlier this month handed over the G20 presidency to India in the presence of PM Modi for the coming year at the Bali summit.

The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum of the world's major developed and developing economies. India formally assumed G20 Presidency from Indonesia on December 1. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi who is coordinating the entire meeting will also be present.