Congress president Sonia Gandhi will meet West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on May 16, in a bid to discuss the presidential poll strategy. Significantly, Mamata’s Trinamool Congress will play a crucial role in upcoming presidential election with a total of 49 MPs in both houses and 184 MLAs.
Thus, Congress, the single largest opposition party in Lok Sabha, is trying to form an anti-NDA alliance to prevent BJP from winning the presidential election.
Recently, opposition parties took part in the commemoration event organized on the 95th birth anniversary of socialist leader Madhu Limaya in Delhi.
The opposition parties stressed the need to protect socialism and secularism. They showed concern whether these principles, as enshrined in the preamble, would be damaged if BJP appoints its nominee as the president of the country.
However, the TMC and Samajwadi Party did not participate in the event that was aimed to bring together the opposition on one platform.
Left has strongly supported the effort of Sonia Gandhi to form consensus over Opposition candidate.
“It is the utmost priority before us. We need someone who could safeguard the constitution. If they (BJP) ends up winning, then there could be a threat to the idea of India itself,” said CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury.
