How 19 parties came on board for joint statement on new Parliament

When West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was meeting her Delhi and Punjab counterparts, Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann, respectively, in Kolkata on Tuesday evening, a message to join the inauguration of the new Parliament building popped up on a Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader’s mobile phone, said people aware of developments. The discussions between the three chief ministers briefly touched upon the May 28 event – when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the new Parliament building – and hours later, the TMC announced that it was pulling out of the ceremony, added the people cited above. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) followed suit after their two chief ministers landed in Mumbai.