A crucial meeting of opposition parties convened by West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) suupremo Mamata Banerjee to build consensus on fielding a joint candidate against the NDA in the presidential election was held on Wednesday with leaders of 17 parties in attendance.
Leaders of the Congress, Samajwadi Party, NCP, DMK, RJD, Shiv Sena, CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), National Conference, PDP, JD(S), RSP, IUML, RLD, JMM and the Left parties attended the meeting, while the AAP, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Odisha's ruling BJD skipped it.
Meanwhile, the Opposition leaders have adopted a resolution to field a common candidate in the forthcoming Presidential polls.
"A candidate who can truly serve as custodian of the Constitution & stop Modi govt from doing further damage to Indian democracy and India's social fabric," said Sudheendra Kulkarni.
Mamata Banerjee, the convener of the meeting, said, "Several parties were here today. We've decided we will choose only one consensus candidate. Everybody will give this candidate our support. We will consult with others. This is a good beginning. We sat together after several months, and we will do it again."
According to NDTV, she has suggested the names of former West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi and National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah to run for President as the Opposition candidate.
This was after NCP chief Sharad Pawar once again refused to run for President, saying "he still has active political innings to play".
