Presidential polls: Gopalkrishna Gandhi bows out, Yashwant Sinha's name crops up as opposition candidate

Hardly left with any notable names, the non-BJP parties are mulling former union minister Yashwant Sinha over as a possible joint candidate for the upcoming presidential election. Sharad Pawar, Farooq Abdullah, and Gopalkrishna Gandhi have already declined the opposition's requests.

Kolkata:Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's attempt to announce the opposition's joint presidential candidate received another blow on Monday after former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi declined the request to contest the elections. Gandhi's name had cropped up after former union minister Sharad Pawar refused to don the role.

Along with Gandhi, J&K politician and former union minister, Farooq Abdullah's name was also doing rounds but he too said no to the proposal citing he had more active political life ahead of him. In a statement on Monday, Gandhi said several esteemed leaders of the Opposition have done him the honour of thinking of him for the opposition’s candidature in the upcoming elections for the presidency.

“I am most grateful to them. But having considered the matter deeply I see that the Opposition’s candidate should be one who will generate a national consensus and a national atmosphere besides Opposition unity. I feel there will be others who will do this far better than I,” he said adding, “And so I have requested the leaders to give the opportunity to such a person. May India get a President worthy of the office presaged by Rajaji as the last Governor General and inaugurated by Dr Rajendra Prasad as our first President".

Hardly left with any notable names, the non-BJP parties, sources said, are mulling former union minister Yashwant Sinha over as a possible joint candidate for the upcoming presidential election. The name of the former BJP leader who joined the TMC last year has been proposed as a presidential poll candidate by a few opposition parties and "three to four" have seconded it, a senior Trinamool Congress leader said on Monday.

West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee received such phone calls and she is also pitching for Sinha as the joint opposition nominee, he said. "Yashwant Sinha is a TMC leader now. So, we don't want any confusion that the proposal has gone from us. As of now, three to four parties have agreed on his name. Now let others decide," the senior TMC leader said.

Sinha's name will be discussed at a meeting of major opposition parties convened by NCP chief Sharad Pawar in New Delhi to build a consensus on fielding a joint candidate against the BJP-led NDA on Tuesday. TMC national general secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee will represent his party at the meeting. Mamata Banerjee had called such a meeting of 22 non-BJP parties last week in the national capital. Seventeen of them attended it.

Sinha had served as Union Finance minister twice - once in the Chandra Sekhar cabinet in 1990 and then again in the Vajpayee ministry. He also held the portfolio of the External Affairs ministry in the Vajpayee cabinet. The process to elect a new president began on June 15. The last date for filing nominations is June 29. The polls, if necessary, will be held on July 18 and the counting on July 21.