Yashwant Sinha Is Opposition’s Consensus Presidential Candidate

New Delhi: Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha has been chosen as the presidential candidate of 13 Opposition parties, including the Congress, the Trinamool Congress, and the Samajwadi Party, which met in Delhi on Tuesday, 21 June.

“In the forthcoming Presidential elections, we have decided to elect a common candidate and stop the Modi government from doing further damage. At a subsequent meeting held today, we have chosen Yashwant Sinha as a common candidate. We appeal to all political parties to vote for Yashwant Sinha,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, reading out the joint statement of the various parties.

“We regret that the Modi government made no serious efforts to have consensus on a presidential candidate,” said Ramesh, adding that the unity of Opposition parties forged for the presidential poll will be further consolidated in the months ahead.

The parties that attended the meeting included the Congress, NCP, TMC, CPI, CPI(M), Samajwadi Party, National Conference, AIMIM, RJD, and AIUDF. The Congress’ Mallikarjun Kharge and Jairam Ramesh, TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee, CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury, and CPI’s D Raja were among those who participated in the meeting.

Five regional parties considered non-aligned – TRS, BJD, AAP, SAD, and YSRCP – did not attend.

Congratulated Yashwant Sinha, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee described him as a man of great honour and acumen, who would surely uphold the values that represent our great nation!”

Ahead of the meeting, Sinha announced on Tuesday morning that he had quit the TMC, hinting that he might be running for president. “Now a time has come when for a larger national cause I must step aside from the party to work for greater opposition unity,” he tweeted.