Mamta's meet shows Opposition is no match for BJP in presidential election
It appears the opposition's attempt to bring all the anti-Modi and anti-BJP forces under one umbrella have not yielded the desired result. It was clear that Mamta Banerjee who called the meeting of the parties does not command the respect of all the non-BJP parties.
Two invited parties - the TRS, the Aam Aadmi Party did not attend the meeting. One party - the Samajwadi party - did not attend but announced its support to her attempts. The MIM has said that it did not get an invite and added that it would not have attended even if invited. The Akali Dal, till recently BJP's friend, too did not attend the meeting.
Importantly, BJD, which has 31000 votes, YSRCP which has 43000 votes and AIADMK with 15000 votes have already pledged their support to the BJP. The BJP has 5.26 lakh votes on its own out of the 10.86 lakh votes (roughly 48 per cent) and it comfortably placed. Many parties that attended Mamta Didi's meeting such as the CPI, CPM, Janata Dal Secular and Nationalist Congress Party do not have enough votes to make a difference.
Mamta's plans to make NCP's Sharad Pawar the presidential candidate have failed as Pawar indicated he would focus on electoral politics. So, the names of weak candidates like Rajmohan Gandhi and Farooq Abdullah were put forward. Second big upset was that Mamta tried to get a resolution passed against the Modi government and failed.
Many of the parties present at the meeting said that the meeting should confine itself to the presidential election and should not discuss other things. A shocked Mamta was forced to withdraw her resolution.
Two invited parties - the TRS, the Aam Aadmi Party did not attend the meeting. One party - the Samajwadi party - did not attend but announced its support to her attempts. The MIM has said that it did not get an invite and added that it would not have attended even if invited. The Akali Dal, till recently BJP's friend, too did not attend the meeting.
Importantly, BJD, which has 31000 votes, YSRCP which has 43000 votes and AIADMK with 15000 votes have already pledged their support to the BJP. The BJP has 5.26 lakh votes on its own out of the 10.86 lakh votes (roughly 48 per cent) and it comfortably placed. Many parties that attended Mamta Didi's meeting such as the CPI, CPM, Janata Dal Secular and Nationalist Congress Party do not have enough votes to make a difference.
Mamta's plans to make NCP's Sharad Pawar the presidential candidate have failed as Pawar indicated he would focus on electoral politics. So, the names of weak candidates like Rajmohan Gandhi and Farooq Abdullah were put forward. Second big upset was that Mamta tried to get a resolution passed against the Modi government and failed.
Many of the parties present at the meeting said that the meeting should confine itself to the presidential election and should not discuss other things. A shocked Mamta was forced to withdraw her resolution.