KOLKATA: The BJP on Wednesday mocked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's efforts to unite opposition parties ahead of the upcoming presidential polls, and asserted that the TMC supremo would "return empty-handed".
The party alleged that her dream of emerging as the nucleus of anti-BJP camp would remain unfulfilled.
Leaders of several opposition parties on Wednesday urged NCP supremo Sharad Pawar to be the joint opposition candidate for the presidential election, but the veteran leader once again declined the offer at a meeting convened by Banerjee in New Delhi.
As many as 17 opposition parties, including the Congress, SP, NCP, DMK, the RJD and Left organisations, attended the over two-hour-long crucial meeting of opposition parties, called by the TMC supremo to build consensus on fielding a joint candidate against the BJP-led NDA in the presidential election.
Parties that skipped the meeting include AAP, SAD, AIMIM, TRS and the BJD.
"Everybody knows that the candidate chosen by the BJP will win the presidential poll. This drama of opposition unity will fall flat. The meeting was convened by Mamata Banerjee as she wants to become the nucleus of opposition unity," Leader of Opposition and BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari said.
Another senior BJP leader, Rahul Sinha, claimed that the objective of the meeting was not achieved.
"Several parties skipped the meeting. The TMC carried out a futile exercise to fulfill Banerjee's long-cherished dream of becoming the leader of the opposition front," he said.
The TMC, however, lauded the meeting as a "positive effort" in the right direction.
"This is just the beginning. Today many parties attended the meeting, few didn't. Who can say those absent today may be present at the next meeting? The BJP is visibly tensed with this show of opposition unity," TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said.
Presidential elections are conducted indirectly through an electoral college consisting of elected members of Parliament and legislative assemblies of states and Union territories.