Trinamool Congress president and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has refused to attend the meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday to discuss the “one nation one election” formula, citing lack of sufficient time to come with a “proper response”.
In a letter to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi, who had sent out invites to all party presidents, she said that such a “serious and sensitive subject” required consultation with constitutional and election experts. Above all, she said, to frame a proper response, she needed to consult all the members of her party.
Instead, Ms Banerjee has asked the Union government to circulate a white paper on the subject inviting views from all political parties giving them adequate time to respond if the Centre indeed wanted “concrete suggestions”.
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The Left parties have already conveyed their opposition to the idea. Both the CPI and the CPI(M) have said that this idea is anti-democratic and seeks to insult the people’s mandate.