New Delhi: TMC president and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will skip the all-party chiefs’ meet in New Delhi called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss several important issues including “one nation, one election” on Wednesday.
In a letter to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, the TMC chief said that a day’s dialogue is not enough to take a call on simultaneous polls in the country and sought a White Paper on the subject.
“A proper response on such a sensitive and serious subject like the “One Country, one election” in such a short time would not do justice to the subject it deserves. The matter requires consultations with constitutional experts, elections experts and above all the party members”, she said.
Mamata wrote, “Instead of doing the matter hurriedly, I would request you to kindly circulate a White Paper on the subject to all political parties inviting their views by providing adequate time. If you only do so, we will be able to give concrete suggestions on this important subject”.
The West Bengal CM further said in that regarding the development of aspirational districts, her party had already conveyed that they are not in support of selection of a few districts.
This would not conform to the overall objectives of achieving balanced and uniform development of all the districts of the state, she added.
Notably, the Prime Minister has invited heads of all parties who have an MP either in Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha for a meeting on June 19 to discuss several issues including the “one nation, one election” idea, celebration of the 75 years of Independence in 2022 and 150 years of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary this year.