Mayawati to skip PM's all-party meet today

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], Jun 19 (ANI): BSP has opposed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'One Nation, One Election' idea for holding simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state Legislative Assemblies in the country.
In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Mayawati claimed that the 'One Nation, One Election' is an attempt to distract people from the "burning" issues in the country.
"Elections in any democratic country can never be a problem nor it is appropriate to evaluate elections with wastage of funds. The issue of 'one country, one election' in the country is actually an attempt to distract people from burning issues like poverty, inflation, unemployment, rising violence," she tweeted in Hindi.
BSP supremo Mayawati has joined the list of Opposition leaders who will not attend the meeting of leaders of political parties convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 'One Nation, One Election' idea and other issues of national importance.
Mayawati alleged that the people did not trust the EVMs and said that if the meeting was convened to address the "dangerous" issue, then she would have attended the meeting.
"Instead of ballot papers, the government's stance of conducting elections through EVMs is dangerous to the country's democracy and constitution. Public confidence in EVMs has decreased. If today's meeting was convened to consider this dangerous issue, then I would have certainly attended it," she said.
On the other hand, CPI General Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy will attend the all-party meeting.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar will also participate in the meet, the party's general secretary DP Tripathi told ANI on Wednesday.
DMK president MK Stalin, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu will not attend the all-party meet convened by the Prime Minister in the Parliament.
MP from Guntur Jayadev Galla is likely to represent the TDP at the meeting.
CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury has confirmed his attendance for the meeting.
AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal will also skip today's meeting. Raghav Chadha will represent the party at the meet.
Modi has invited the heads of all the political parties that have at least one member either in the Lok Sabha or in the Rajya Sabha for today's meeting that he will chair to discuss several issues, including the 'One nation, One election' idea. (ANI)