Uddhav Thackeray to skip Mamata Banerjee's June 15 meeting on Presidential election

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will skip the meeting of Opposition leaders called by Mamata Banerjee on June 15 due to his scheduled visit to Ayodhya. However, a senior leader of the Shiv Sena will take part in the meeting, said party spokesperson Sanjay Raut. 

On Saturday, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee invited Opposition leaders across parties to attend a meeting in Delhi to prepare a joint strategy for the upcoming presidential elections. She sent a letter to 22 opposition leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury.

"Mamata ji has called a meeting to discuss about Presidential elections. Misuse of Central agencies, Centre-state relations could also be discussed. Uddhav Ji has received an invite to the June 15 meeting in Delhi. But as we will be in Ayodhya at that time, a prominent leader of our party will take part in the meeting," Raut told reporters.

With the term of incumbent President Ram Nath Kovind ending this month, voting to elect the new President will take place on July 18. In her letter, Banerjee asserted the need to come together with an initiative of "strong and effective opposition against the divisive forces." 

Sonia Gandhi's calls for fielding common candidate for presidential polls

On the other hand, Congress President Sonia Gandhi also reached out to NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerjee, and other opposition leaders to hold deliberations on the presidential elections. Earlier, she had given a call to hold talks over the possibility of fielding a common candidate of the joint Opposition.

Following this, senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge met Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, besides holding telephonic discussions with Mamata Banerjee. 

Voting to elect India's next President will be held on July 18, with 4,809 members of the electoral college comprising MPs and MLAs set to elect the successor to incumbent Ram Nath Kovind. 

In an electoral college of around 10.86 lakh votes, the BJP-led alliance is poised to have more than 48% of the votes and is expecting support from non-aligned regional parties.

(With agency inputs)