Presidential polls: Mamata to skip meet convened by Pawar as search for nominee continues

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Sharad Pawar is likely to hold a meeting of opposition parties on Tuesday to deliberate on a consensus candidate for the presidential polls next month. The meeting will be attended by Congress, Trinamool Congress and others.

For TMC, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee will attend the meeting as the former is busy due to prior engagements. Sharad Pawar has also invited All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and the party's Maharashtra unit chief, Imtiaz Jaleel will attend the meeting.

A similar meeting, which was attended by 17 parties, was called by Mamata Banerjee. Congress, Samajwadi Party, NCP, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the left parties were present at the meeting. Aam Aadmi Party, Shiromani Akali Dal, Telangana Rashtra Samithi and Biju Janata Dal had skipped the meeting.

Prez poll: Non-BJP parties mulling Yashwant Sinha as possible joint opposition candidate

After Sharad Pawar, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and ex-West Bengal governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi declined to stand as the Opposition's presidential candidate, the non-BJP parties have suggested the name of former union minister Yashwant Sinha for the top post. Sinha's name will be discussed at a meeting called by Pawar on Tuesday.

The name of the former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader who joined the TMC last year was proposed by a few opposition parties and around three to four have seconded it, a TMC leader said.

Mamata Banerjee has received phone calls suggesting the veteran leader's name and she is also supporting Sinha as the joint opposition's nominee.

Sinha, a former IAS officer, joined politics in 1984 to join the Janata Dal. He was finance minister in the Chandra Shekhar government in 1990-91. He later switched to BHI to be a Minister for Financer and later External Affairs Minister in the Atal Behari Vajpayee government which ruled between 1989-2004. He is currently with TMC.