Yashwant Sinha named Opposition's joint candidate for President
On Tuesday, Sinha stated that it was time to move beyond party politics and fight for the greater national good. The decision occurred shortly after the TMC resolved to nominate him as the joint Opposition candidate for the top job at the Opposition parties' meeting.
FollowFormer Union Minister Yashwant Sinha has been named the united Opposition candidate for the upcoming presidential elections. "We have unanimously agreed that Yashwant Sinha will be the Opposition's consensus candidate for the presidential elections," Congress leader Jairam Ramesh told the reporters after attending an Opposition party meeting in New Delhi.
On Tuesday, Sinha stated that it was time to move beyond party politics and fight for the greater national good. "I am grateful to (TMC president) Mamata Banerjee for the honour and status she has bestowed on me within the TMC. Now is the time for me to leave the party in order to strive for greater opposition unity for a wider national cause. I'm sure she approves of the action," TMC vice-president Sinha had tweeted.
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The decision was announced shortly after the TMC resolved to nominate him as the joint Opposition candidate for the top job at the Opposition parties' meeting later that day.
Previously, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chairman Sharad Pawar, National Conference (NC) chief Farooq Abdullah, and Mahatma Gandhi's grandson Gopalkrishna Gandhi have declined proposals to be the unified Opposition presidential candidate.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee convened a conference of 17 opposition parties on June 15 to seek agreement on an unified presidential candidate to oppose the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
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The deadline for submitting presidential nominees is June 29. The election will be held on July 18, and the results will be announced on July 21. President Ram Nath Kovind's tenure expires on July 24, and the next president should be chosen before then.
