Former Trinamool Congress vice president Yashwanth Sinha has been selected unanimously as the Opposition candidate for the Presidential election which will take place on July 18.
At a press conference in New Delhi, Congress’s communication chief Jairam Ramesh announced Sinha’s name.
“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,” said Jairam Ramesh reading from a joint statement by the opposition.
The joint statement appealed to the BJP and its allies to support the candidature of Mr Sinha so that the nation can have a “worthy Rashtrapati elected unopposed”.
Earlier in the day, Sinha submitted his resignation to TMC from all posts saying, “that he is stepping down for a “greater opposition unity.”
Announcing his resignation, Sinha said, “Now a time has come when for a larger national cause I must step aside from the party to work for greater opposition unity.”
Yashwant Sinha quit BJP alleging the country’s democracy was a ‘threat’ under the Narendra Modi government.
