16 Opposition Parties Meeting on Presidential Election: Mamata names Farooq and Gopal Gandhi; Rajnath rang the phone to Pawar and Mayawati

There has been a race for both the parties and the opposition regarding the presidential election. On the one hand, where Mamata Banerjee held a meeting with 16 opposition parties in Delhi. At the same time, only a few hours after this meeting, on behalf of the ruling party, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh first told Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik. After this he also rang the phone to Sharad Pawar and Mayawati.

Earlier, the meeting of opposition parties under the leadership of Mamta Banerjee in Delhi lasted for about two hours. In the meeting, Mamta Banerjee proposed the name of Gandhi’s grandson Gopal Gandhi and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah as the presidential candidate. After this, Sharad Pawar also said that we are conducting an opinion poll on the name.

16 parties including Shiv Sena and Congress were involved in the meeting. The general opinion was that the entire opposition would have only one candidate. The Aam Aadmi Party did not participate in this meeting. On the other hand, Asaduddin Owaisi also got angry on not getting the invitation. Earlier on Tuesday, Sharad Pawar refused to contest the elections.

Leaders of Congress, CPI, CPI(M), CPIML, RSP, Shiv Sena, NCP, RJD, SP, National Conference, PDP, JD(S), DMK, RLD, IUML and JMM attended the meeting. Here, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh has spoken to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik regarding the presidential election.

The names of Farooq Abdullah and Gopalkrishna Gandhi have been proposed by the opposition for the presidential candidate.

Who is Gopalkrishna Gandhi?
Gopalkrishna Gandhi is the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. He was born on 22 April 1945. Father’s name is Devdas Gandhi. C Rajagopalachari was his maternal grandfather. He completed his master’s degree in English from Stephen’s College, Delhi. Gopal Gandhi, 77, has served abroad as an IAS officer from 1968 to 1992.

After retirement, he has also tried his hand in politics. He was also a candidate from the opposition in the 2017 Vice Presidential election, but lost to M Venkaiah Naidu in the election. Earlier in 1997, he had also served as the Governor of Bengal.

Yechury first refused then came to the meeting
Mamta Banerjee and NCP Chief Sharad Pawar had reached Delhi on Tuesday evening to attend the meeting. On June 14, Mamta met NCP Chief Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel in Delhi. Meanwhile, CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury clarified that NCP leader Sharad Pawar will not be the opposition’s candidate for the post of President. He also said that the top leadership of CPI(M) will not participate in this meeting to be held under the leadership of Mamta. However, he himself attended the meeting held on Wednesday.

Mamta wrote a letter to 22 leaders
Mamta had written a letter to 22 leaders, including 8 CMs of the opposition, requesting them to attend the meeting. The special thing is that Congress also participated in this meeting. Senior party leader Mallikarjun Kharge attended the meeting on behalf of the Congress. The Presidential election is to be held in the country on 18th July, due to which the opposition is mobilizing against the BJP.

A day before the opposition meeting, Mamata Banerjee had met NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel.

Sharad Pawar and Kharge’s name also cropped up
Earlier there were reports that the opposition parties seem to be agreeing on the name of NCP leader Sharad Pawar for the presidential candidate. Before Sharad Pawar, there were reports of Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge also being made the presidential candidate.

Bengal CM sent invitation to these leaders
Mamata Banerjee Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, Telangana CM K Chandrashekhar Rao, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, Punjab CM Bhagwant Wrote letters to 22 leaders including Mann and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

President Ram Nath Kovind’s term ends on July 24
Voting for the presidential election is to be held on July 18, while the results will be out on July 21. According to the rules of the Constitution, the process of election of the next President should be completed before the end of the term of the current President in the country. The term of the country’s President Ram Nath Kovind is ending on July 24.