New Delhi, (18/6/2019): Indicating that she would skip the meeting of presidents of all political parties convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Wednesday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday wrote to the Centre saying it should not go about “hurriedly” on a “sensitive and serious subject” like “one country and one election”.
In a letter to Union Parliamentary Affair Minister Pralhad Joshi, who formally invited her to the meeting, Banerjee demanded that a white paper be circulated among all the political parties giving them “adequate time” to give their views on “one country and one election”.
“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”.
“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,” she wrote.
Banerjee also opposed development of “Aspirational Districts”, arguing it would not conform to the objective of achieving a balanced and uniform development of all the districts.
She also said that she and her party would participate wholeheartedly in the 75 years of Independence in 2022 and 150 years of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary this year but stated that the issue regarding ways to improve the productivity of Parliament was a matter of the Lower House and should be dealt with by the concerned minister.
