New Delhi, June 19, 2019: Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an all-party meeting on Wednesday said that a committee will be formed to look into the various issues regarding the “one nation, one election” plan.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told this to the media after the conclusion of the meeting which lasted for over three-and-a-half hours.
Singh said that five major agendas were discussed in the meeting, including the “one nation, one election” plan.
He said that members of all the opposition parties present at the meeting supported the idea barring the CPI and CPI-M. “Only CPI and CPI-M expressed difference of opinion, saying how it could be implemented,” the Defence Minister said.
Over 40 parties were invited for the meeting in which 21 party chiefs participated while three expressed their inability to join the meeting citing some reasons, Singh added. “One nation, one election is not a government agenda, it is the country’s agenda. All parties will be involved. We will respect all difference of opinion,” Singh said.
Increasing the productivity in Parliament and the Niti Aayog’s proposal to fast-track the socio-economic conditions of 117 aspirational districts across 28 states were the other items on the agenda, Singh said.
The Defence Minister said that celebrations of 75 years of India’s Independence in 2022 and Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary celebrations this year were also discussed during the meeting.
Apart from Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP Working President J.P. Nadda, YSR Congress President Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, Sitaram Yechuri of the CPI-M, CPI’s Sudhakar Reddy and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar were among those who attended the meeting.
The attendees also included Akali Dal’s Sukhbir Singh Badal, Janata Dal-United leader Nitish Kumar, Biju Janata Dal President Naveen Patnaik, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi, Lok Janshakti Party’s Ram Vilas Paswan, Telangana Rashtra Samithi President K.T. Rama Rao, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and Peoples Democratic Party leader Mehbooba Mufti.
Parties which gave the meeting a skip included the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, DMK, Trinamool Congress, Telugu Desam Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal.
The government had invited the chiefs of all political parties with representation in the Parliament for the meeting.
Naveen Patnaik said he supported the one nation, one election proposal moved by Prime Minister. Patnaik said he also suggested that “peace and non-violence should be in the preamble of the Constitution”.
However, CPI-M’s Sitaram Yechuri called the one nation, one election proposal “anti-democratic and anti-federal”. “It is an attempt to replace the parliamentary system with Presidential system,” he said. (IANS)
