OPPN TRIES TO STAVE OFF PREZ POLL MEET CRISIS

NEW DELHI: Opposition troubleshooters have begun hectic discussions to stave off a potential crisis that could jeopardise efforts to agree on a common candidate for the upcoming presidential election, people aware of the matter said on Sunday, citing a clash in the timing of key meetings that are provisionally planned for next week.

The Congress, Left, and a couple of other parties were planning to hold an Opposition meeting on June 15 to discuss the presidential candidate and while these backchannel negotiations were underway, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee sent an invitation to 22 leaders, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and eight chief ministers who are not from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to meet on the same day on the same issue in Delhi.

Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, the Congress’s key negotiator for the presidential poll, spoke to several parties, including the Trinamool Congress, the Samajwadi Party (SP), and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to find a solution. “We have also reached out to Telangana’s ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to discuss the situation,” a senior Congress leader said, asking not to be named.

One option, this person added, is to defer the meeting since Sonia Gandhi is in hospital after testing positive for Covid-19.

The letter, with the plan clashing with a meeting of the Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist), was unexpected, the people added. If the Opposition parties go ahead and meet on June 15 according to the earlier plan, it would now seem like Banerjee’s proposed meeting has

taken place, a second leader aware of the matter said.

The person added that if some opposition parties such as the Left bloc and the Congress reject Banerjee’s invitation, other opposition parties such as the AAP, the TRS and the SP could take up the Bengal CM’s offer, creating a division in the camp at an early stage — well before the poll itself.

The presidential poll will take place on July 21. “Sonia Gandhi, Sharad Pawar and I were involved in the planning for past one month.

West Bengal chief minister’s letter has created a crisis,” said CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury.

A senior Congress strategist agreed with the assessment, adding that “a few leaders have created a first-rate crisis.

Kharge is trying to do the damage control.” In her letter, Banerjee said: “The Presidential elections are around the corner, presenting the perfect opportunity for all progressive opposition parties to reconvene and deliberate on the future course of Indian politics.”

A party functionary close to Banerjee said: “Didi held preliminary talks with some Opposition leaders before writing the letter.”