Eight parties attend meeting with Sharad Pawar, NCP says it was not a political event
Those who attended the meeting were leaders from the TMC, AAP, National Conference, the Samajwadi Party and the Left. The Congress was missing.
Eight political parties, including Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress and Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party, took part in a meeting held at Sharad Pawar’s house on Tuesday, reported NDTV. The Congress, however, was missing.
Majeed Memon, a leader of Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party, said the meeting was not a political one. “There are talks that the meeting was for a third front without the Congress, which is not the truth,” said Memon. “There is no discrimination. We called all like-minded people. We also invited Congress leaders. I called Vivek Tanha, Manish Tiwari, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Shatrughan Sinha for the meeting. They couldn’t come. It’s not true that we didn’t invite Congress.”
We also discussed how the prices of petrol & diesel are affecting, especially farmers & middle class. Rashtra Manch will create a space where everyone can come together & voice it to the govt. The next meeting will focus on including more people: Ghanshyam Tiwari, Samajwadi Party
— ANI (@ANI) June 22, 2021
It is being reported in media that this meeting of Rashtra Manch was held by Sharad Pawar to unite anti-BJP political parties. This is totally incorrect. I want to clarify that this meeting took place at Pawar's residence but he didn't call this meeting: NCP leader Majeed Memon pic.twitter.com/BzJKsZFgT6
— ANI (@ANI) June 22, 2021
Others who attended the meeting were National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, the Samajwadi Party’s Ghanshyam Tiwari and Left leaders Binoy Viswam and Nilotpal Basu. Apart from politicians, retired Justice AP Shah, former ambassador KC Singh and lyricist Javed Akhtar also participated.
The meeting came at a time when Opposition parties are exploring ways to come up with a third front ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Speculations were rife that the meeting would be about the upcoming elections after Pawar held discussions with election strategist Prashant Kishor twice in two weeks.