June 21,2022:Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha will be the consensus presidential candidate of several opposition parties, including the Congress, the Trinamool Congress and the Samajwadi Party, the parties said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
Opposition leaders, who gathered at the Parliament annexe for the meeting convened by Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar to decide on a consensus candidate for the presidential election, unanimously agreed on Sinha’s name.
“In his long and distinguished career in public life, Shri Yashwant Sinha has served the nation in various capacities — as an able administrator, accomplished parliamentarian and acclaimed Union minister of finance and external affairs. He is eminently qualified to uphold secular and democratic character of the Indian republic and its constitutional values,” the statement said.
“We regret the Modi government made no serious effort to have consensus on a presidential candidate,” said Jairam Ramesh who spoke for the group.
Five regional parties considered non aligned to this group- Telangana Rashtra Samiti, Biju Janata Dal. Aam Aadmi Party, Shiromani Akali Dal and YSR Congress Party – stayed away. These parties had also stayed away from the June 15 meeting convened by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
