Following is the text of the letter addressed by CPI(M) General Secretary, Sitaram Yechury, to West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee on the meeting of opposition parties to be held on June 15, 2022.
June 14, 2022
Hon’ble Chief Minister,
I received your letter dated June 11, 2022 informing me of a meeting of opposition parties on June 15, 2022 at 3.00 p.m. at the Constitution Club, New Delhi to discuss the forthcoming election to elect the President of India.
Such meetings of opposition parties have always followed a procedure of prior mutual consultations to enable the maximum participation of those wishing to join. However, in this instance, we received a unilateral communication informing the date, time, venue and agenda.
Your letter mentions “a fruitful confluence of opposition voices is the need of the hour”. This could have been better achieved if there had been mutual consultation and a proper time to enable party leaders to reschedule their prior commitments to attend such a meeting. Unfortunately, there were only three days between the receipt of your letter and the date of the meeting.
The CPI(M) has consistently championed the need to strengthen the broadest mobilisation of all secular forces to safeguard the Indian Constitution and the secular democratic character of the Indian Republic. In line with this, as the issue is to discuss the forthcoming election of the President of India and given the fact that the President is the custodian of the Indian Constitution, the CPI(M) will be represented at the meeting by the leader of our group in the Rajya Sabha, Shri Elamaram Kareem.
Yours sincerely
(Sitaram Yechury)
Ms. Mamata Banerjee
Hon’ble Chief Minister
West Bengal