Congress, Mamata, Kejriwal Skip PM Modi’s Simultaneous Polls Meet

NCP chief Sharad Pawar will be present though, and so will CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik.

Various prominent Opposition leaders, including West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, are skipping PM Modi's all-party meet on Wednesday, 19 June.

Besides them, the Congress is also not attending the all-party meeting, party leader Gaurav Gogoi said.

"As far as I know, our party is not attending the meeting," Gogoi told the media in Parliament.

The meet is to discuss several issues, including the idea of ‘One Nation, One Election’, the celebration of 75 years of Independence in 2022 and the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi this year.

LEADERS WHO ARE SKIPPING THE MEET:

1. Mamata Banerjee (Trinamool Congress)
2. Arvind Kejriwal (Aam Aadmi Party)
3. MK Stalin (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam)
4. Chandrashekhar Rao (Telangana Rashtra Samithi)
5. Mayawati (Bahujan Samaj Party)
6. Chandrababu Naidu (Telugu Desam Party)

Kejriwal’s AAP and KCR’s TRS are, however, sending representatives to the all party-meeting. 

While Raghav Chadha is representing AAP, for TRS, it is KT Rama Rao, KCR’s son and working president of the party.

TDP Chief Chandrababu Naidu is also not attending the meeting called by the PM in the Parliament, and Jayadev Galla is likely to be the TDP's representative.

Meanwhile, NCP chief Sharad Pawar will be present for the meeting, and so would CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik.

On Tuesday, Banerjee had also excused herself from the meeting and asked the government to prepare a white paper on 'One Nation, One Election' instead of doing it "hurriedly".

Both Mamata Banerjee and Telangana CM Chandrashekhar Rao had also skipped the NITI-Aayog meeting last week, as well as PM Modi’s swearing-in ceremony on 30 May.

(With inputs from PTI and ANI.)