Mamata Banerjee had written a letter to 22 opposition leaders for the meeting. (FILE)
Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Tuesday wrote to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for Convening Opposition leaders Meeting on Wednesday and said that meetings of Opposition parties have always followed a procedure of prior mutual consultations to enable the maximum participation of those wishing to join.
In a letter to Mamata Banerjee, the CPI(M) General Secretary said, "I received your letter dated June 11, 2022 informing me of a meeting of opposition parties on June 15, 2022 at 3 pm at the Constitution Club in New Delhi to discuss the forthcoming election to elect the President of India."
"Such meetings of opposition parties have always followed a procedure of prior mutual consultations to enable the maximum participation of those wishing to join. However, in this instance, we received a unilateral communication informing the date, time, venue and agenda," said Mr Yechury.
CPI(M) General Secretary further said in a letter, "Your letter mentions "a fruitful confluence of opposition voices is the need of the hour". This could have been better achieved if there had been mutual consultation and a proper time to enable party leaders to reschedule their prior commitments to attend such a meeting. Unfortunately, there were only three days between the receipt of your letter and the date of the meeting."
"The CPI(M) has consistently championed the need to strengthen the broadest mobilisation of all secular forces to safeguard the Indian Constitution and the secular democratic character of the Indian Republic. In line with this, as the issue is to discuss the forthcoming election of the President of India and given the fact that the President is the custodian of the Indian Constitution, the CPI(M) will be represented at the meeting by the leader of our group in the Rajya Sabha Elamaram Kareem," he added.
Mamata Banerjee has convened the Opposition leaders' meeting on June 15 in a bid to unite the opposition parties ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and prepare a joint strategy for the presidential polls.
Ms Banerjee had written a letter to 22 opposition leaders, including left parties, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Farooq Abdullah among others, urging them to attend the June 15 meeting in New Delhi.
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