Mamata Banerjee has decided to send nephew Abhishek Banerjee as the Trinamul Congress’s representative to a meeting of major national Opposition parties convened by NCP chief Sharad Pawar in New Delhi on Tuesday regarding the presidential election.

The Bengal chief minister is likely to give the meeting a miss, a decision some sources in her party have attributed to her reservations over the way the meeting had been called by Pawar. The sources said Mamata was unhappy that there was no mention, in the invitation sent by Pawar, of the meeting she had convened at the Constitution Club on June 15 on the presidential election and National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah’s refusal to be considered as a possible candidate.

“Abhishek will be there. We won’t be unrepresented at such a meeting,” said a senior Trinamul leader. The Diamond Harbour MP was present alongside his aunt at the June 15 meeting as the national general secretary of their party.

“Some of the developments since the previous meeting have left a sour taste. She (Mamata) does not want to attend this particular meeting, as it is likely to remain inconclusive and she has prior commitments for that day,” he added.

After the NCP chief turned down Mamata’s request to contest as the Opposition’s candidate in the July 18 election, she proposed the names of Abdullah and Gopalkrishna Gandhi, a former diplomat who is a grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and C. Rajagopalachari.

“Sharadji has already refused because victory is not assured. Farooqji now says he wants to continue in active politics although he did not say anything of the sort on June 15. Our former governor (Gandhi), too, is not really keen…. She does not have anybody else to propose, at the moment. Let others figure it out,” said a Trinamul MP.

Parties like the TRS, the BJD, the AAP, the YSRCP, and the Shiromani Akali Dal, which did not attend the meeting convened by Mamata, will have to come together with the rest if the non-NDA camp has to have a fighting chance in the election.

President Ram Nath Kovind’s term ends on July 24. The ruling coalition, led by the BJP, does not have the numbers for a guaranteed victory. The gap, however, can easily be made up with support from either the BJD or the YSRCP. In 2017 too, the NDA did not have the numbers, but it got support from the TRS, the YSRCP and the BJD.