Several party leaders from across the country to skip all-party meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today to discuss "one nation, one election" proposal.
Yesterday after West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee refused to attend the meeting, many political leaders including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, DMK supremo M K Stalin, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu, Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati will also be skipping the meeting called by PM Modi.
Even Congress will not attend the all-party meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the 'one nation, one election' proposal. Congress MP, Gaurav Gogoi told the media in Parliament: "As far as I know, our party is not attending the meeting."
In series of tweets, BSP chief Mayawati said she would have attended the all-party meeting called by the prime minister if it was on EVMs, and described the idea of simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls as a ploy to divert attention from issues like poverty. "The stubbornness of conducting elections through electronic voting machines instead of ballot paper is the real threat to the democracy and Constitution of the country.
"In these circumstances, if the meeting was convened to deliberate upon the deadly issue, then I would have definitely attended it," Mayawati tweeted. "Elections in any democracy can never be a problem, nor the elections should be weighed from the point of view of expenditure and extravagance," she said. "The 'one nation, one election' is, in fact, an attempt to divert the attention from burning national issues such as poverty, inflation, unemployment, and increase in violence, and is simply an illusion."
On the other hand, MP from Guntur Jayadev Galla is likely to represent the TDP at the all-party meeting. Kejriwal would not be attending the meeting and the AAP would be represented by party member Raghav Chadha, who was fielded from South Delhi constituency in the recently held Lok Sabha polls.
On Wednesday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday wrote to the Centre saying it should not go about "hurriedly" on a "sensitive and serious subject" like 'One Country, One Election'. In a letter to Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi, who formally invited her to the meeting, Banerjee demanded a white paper be circulated among all political parties seeking their views by proving them "adequate time".
In the meanwhile, the Left parties are likely to attend. A senior Left leader told PTI, that "All the Left parties are likely to attend the meeting. We will attend and oppose the 'one nation, one election' issue."
PM Narendra Modi has invited the heads of all the political parties that have at least one member either in the Lok Sabha or in the Rajya Sabha to discuss the "one nation, one election" issue. The agenda for the meeting also includes celebration of 75 years of Independence in 2022 and the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi this year. It will be followed by a dinner meeting with all the MPs on Thursday.
