Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has informed the Centre that she will not take part in a meeting of heads of all political parties in New Delhi on Wednesday.

She conveyed her decision in a letter to Union parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi, who had sent the invitation to Mamata.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the meeting that has been convened to discuss four major issues — one country one election, development of “aspirational” districts, celebration of 75 years of Independence and Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary and improve the productivity of Parliament.

The meeting, sources said, was called as Modi himself wanted to discuss the issues with the leaders of all parties. “It was the Prime Minister who wanted the presidents of all parties to be present at the meet which will be chaired by him on June 19. But the Bengal chief minister has decided to avoid the meeting by registering her views on the issues,” said a senior state official.

In her letter, the chief minister pointed out her suggestions on and reservations about the subjects in detail.

On “one country one election” — a pet subject of Modi who wanted to hold Lok Sabha and Assembly polls at the same time — the chief minister made it clear that the Trinamul Congress wanted more consultations on the matter.

“The matter requires consultations with constitutional experts, election experts and above all party members. Instead of doing this hurriedly, I would like to request you to kindly circulate a White Paper to all the political parties inviting their views by providing adequate time,” the chief minister wrote.

Sources in Trinamul have said Mamata feels it is not possible to hold Parliament and Assembly elections simultaneously as the tenure of different state legislative bodies doesn’t expire at the same time.

On the issue of development of aspirational districts, Mamata made it clear that the idea would not serve the purpose of achieving balanced and uniform development of all areas. “Our state is committed to ensuring social and economic development of all districts uniformly so that regional imbalances do not arise,” she wrote.

The proposal talks about 120 backward districts across the country being given special attention and selected for several development projects under the direct supervision of the Centre.

While Mamata promised to take part “whole-heartedly” in the celebration of 75 years of the Independence and the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, she said the parliamentary affairs ministry should hold a meeting with leaders of all parties to improve the legislature’s productivity.

Trinamul insiders said it would have been good if Mamata attended the meet and made her views clear before Modi. “The need of the hour is to break the ice between the chief minister and the PM. She did not attend the swearing-in of Modi and the Niti Ayog meeting. She should have agreed to attend tomorrow’s meeting. We need the Centre’s assistance to execute development projects before we face the Assembly polls,” said a minister.