Presidential polls: Cracks in Opposition ranks as Mamata's meeting begins

TRS, AAP have refused to attend the meeting with SAD likely to give it a miss too

TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is meeting with the leaders of the opposition parties in the national capital today.

The meeting comes against the backdrop of upcoming presidential elections which are scheduled to take place on July 18. The West Bengal CM met NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday in Delhi a day prior to the scheduled meeting. Mamata Banerjee aims to bring the opposition parties together, to put up a united fight against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

During Mamata Banerjee's meeting with Sharad Pawar, the former asked Pawar to become the opposition nominee for the upcoming presidential polls.

However, the meeting has become a symbol of Opposition disunity with various parties refusing to attend.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the Aam Aadmi Party, the YSR Congress, and SAD have missed the meeting for various reasons.

Leaders of the opposition parties were expected to join the meeting and formulate a joint strategy for the upcoming polls. TMC supremo wrote to 22 Opposition leaders last week, calling for a meeting at Delhi's Constitution Club on June 15. Congress' interim president Sonia Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Mallikarjun Kharge, MK Stalin, K Chandrasekhar Rao, Uddhav Thackeray, Akhilesh Yadav, and Hemant Soren are among the few leaders who were invited.

Apart from TRS and Aam Aadmi Party, BJP's former ally Shiromani Akali Dal also skipped the meeting. According to an NDTV report, a BJD leader stated that their party had not received instruction from party supremo Naveen Patnaik.

However, some parties were not invited to the meeting, including AIMIM and BSP. AIMIM chief Owaisi asserted that he would not have attended the meeting because of the Congress party's presence. YSR Congress has also decided to skip the meeting.