New Delhi: Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha will be the opposition parties’ presidential candidate, sources said on Tuesday. The presidential election will be held on July 18.
The opposition parties held a meeting at the Parliament Annexe. “We (opposition parties) have unanimously decided that Yashwant Sinha will be our common candidate for the Presidential election,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh told media persons after the meeting.
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President of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Sharad Pawar called the meeting and leaders of the Congress, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, CPI, CPI-M, National Conference and Rashtriya Janata Dal took part in the meeting. Ramesh said,
“In his long and distinguished career in public life, Sinha has served the nation in various capacities. An able administrator, accomplished Parliamentarian, and an acclaimed Union Minister of Finance and External Affairs, he is eminently qualified to uphold the secular and democratic character of the Indian republic and its constitutional values.”
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Sinha who was a member of the Trinamool Congress resigned from the party earlier in the day. That led to the speculations about his name being finalised as opposition candidate for President’s post. A similar meeting was held last week and several opposition leaders wanted Sharad Pawar to be the opposition candidate, but he declined the offer. In the same way, a former diplomat Gopal Gandhi declined the offer to become the opposition candidate for the presidential election.
