New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday spoke to several leaders from opposition parties, including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, as well as other NDA partners ahead of next month’s Presidential election.
According to sources, the BJP-led NDA government is trying to build consensus with the opposition to avoid an election.
Rajnath Singh has also spoken to Congress’s Mallikarjun Kharge and Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav. The Defence Minister also spoke to alliance partner and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who heads the Janata Dal-United.
It is learnt that the senior leader will also speak to NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, and leaders of other political parties.
However, the three leaders have asked the government to declare the BJP-led NDA’s nominees for the Presidential election.
On Sunday, the BJP had authorised party chief J.P. Nadda and Rajnath Singh for consultation with other political parties for the Presidential election. They will hold consultation with NDA partners, UPA constituents and even independent Members of Parliament.
TMC, Congress, CPI, CPI(M), CPIML, RSP, Shiv Sena, NCP, RJD, SP, National Conference, PDP, JD(S), DMK, RLD, IUML and JMM – participated in the meeting held at the Constitution Club of India here.
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) led by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao did not send a representative to the meeting.
The presidential election is slated to be held on July 18 and votes will be counted on July 21.
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