New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday (June 15) reportedly suggested the names of Farooq Abdullah and Gopalkrishna Gandhi as opposition candidates for the presidential poll, RSP's NK Premchandran was cited by PTI. She convened a crucial meeting of the opposition parties to field a joint candidate for the presidential election 2022. NCP supremo Sharad Pawar once again declined to be the joint opposition candidate for the upcoming presidential election. "Leaders of all parties requested Sharad Pawar to contest the President's election and be the joint candidate, but he declined the offer," DMK leader T R Baalu told mediapersons. 


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At least 17 parties including Congress, Samajwadi Party, NCP, DMK, RJD and the Left parties attended the meeting at the Constitution Club of India in Delhi. However, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Odisha's ruling BJD have stayed away from the Opposition parties meeting. As per ANI sources, AAP will take a decision only after the candidate for the Presidential election is announced. 


CPI's Binoy Viswam said it was decided that "there was consensus in the meeting that there should be only one candidate who is acceptable to all". RJD's Manoj Jha said the Opposition leaders would convince Pawar to reconsider his decision as he was the "right" candidate.


Who all attended the meeting called by Mamata Banerjee?


Congress, Shiv Sena, CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), National Conference, PDP, JD(S), RSP, IUML, RLD and the JMM were among the parties that attended the meeting called by TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee. 


NCP's Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel, Congress' Mallikarjun Kharge, Jairam Ramesh and Randeep Surjewala, 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 significant leaders present at the meeting in Delhi. 



On Tuesday, Banerjee and Left party leaders met NCP chief Sharad Pawar at his residence separately to convince him to be the consensus opposition candidate for the top constitutional job, PTI reported. 


Last week, the West Bengal CM had reached out to the Opposition leaders urging them to attend a meeting on June 15 in New Delhi to chalk out a joint strategy for the polls.


The Election Commission announced earlier that polling for the next President of India will be held on July 18. As many as 4,809 electors comprising MPs and MLAs will vote to elect the next President. Incumbent President Ram Nath Kovind's term ends on July 24. The BJP’s candidate is expected to secure a comfortable win considering the saffron party's strength in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, as well as in several state assemblies, as per PTI. 


(With agency inputs)