No question of sharing any platform with Congress: TRS on opting out of Mamata Banerjee's Oppn meet

File image of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao

Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has decided to opt out of the Opposition meet called by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee in New Delhi today.

The party in power in Telangana decided to opt out of today’s meeting after prolonged discussions chaired by chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, popularly known as KCR, with the party leaders in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

The party has raised strong objections to the Congress being invited.

READ : Mamata's Oppn meet over Presidential polls today; AAP, TRS to skip

"There is no question of sharing any platform with the Congress," TRS said in a note, according to a report in NDTV. The party said the Congress had been invited despite its objections.

"Rahul Gandhi, in a recent public meeting in Telangana had targeted the TRS government without any word of criticism against the BJP," the note said, accusing the Congress of "ganging up with the BJP" in Telangana, especially in recent by-polls, according to the report.

The Congress and the TRS have been at odds for quite some time now with Rahul Gandhi, in his recent visit to Telangana, asserting that Congress will not join with CM KCR at any level.

India’s youngest state, Telangana was born out of people's aspirations for a better future.

I feel proud that the Congress party and Sonia Gandhi ji listened to the people’s voice and worked selflessly towards fulfilling the dream of Telangana.#TelanganaFormationDay

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— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 2, 2022

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee convened the crucial meeting of Opposition parties on June 15 with an aim to forge a consensus on fielding a joint candidate for the Presidential polls scheduled next month.

Banerjee had recently written to as many as 22 leaders of Opposition parties, including Congress’ interim president Sonia Gandhi, inviting them to be part of the platform against ‘divisive’ forces.

The election for the next President of India will be held on July 18, the Election Commission said on June 9. The counting will take place on July 21. The term of the current President Ram Nath Kovind ends on July 24 and an election for the next president has to be held before that day.

Also read | Explained: How is the President of India elected?

As many as 16 parties, including Congress, are expected to attend the meeting.  These include the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the National Conference (NC), Shiv Sena, Rashtriya Lok Dal, CPM, CPI, to name a few.

Mallikarjun Kharge, Jairam Ramesh and Randeep Surjewala are expected to represent the Congress party in the meeting to be held in Delhi.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may not have the numbers to get the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate as the next President of India.