Delhi: Presidential election – Opposition decides to field joint candidate
New Delhi : Opposition parties on Wednesday decided to field a joint candidate for next month’s presidential election. The decision was taken at a meeting of opposition leaders called by Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee here. The opposition has agreed to field a strong candidate against the candidate of the ruling BJP.
In this meeting a resolution was passed to field a general candidate in the next presidential election.A statement after the meeting from the opposition said, In the upcoming presidential election which is being held on the 75th anniversary of India’s independence, we have decided to field a common candidate who is actually a member of the Constitution. act as a protector and prevent the Modi government from causing further damage to Indian democracy and the social fabric of India. To this, Mamta Banerjee said that all the important political parties sent their representatives and many senior leaders attended the meeting.
He said, One or two parties did not attend the meeting and they will have their reasons. All the members unanimously took the name of Sharad Pawar in the meeting. If Pawar is ready, it is fine. If not, then to the political parties. Names will come out. It (name) will be discussed and decided. Today is the beginning and I think after so many months we are sitting together and we will do it again. Every institution is being completely misused politically and it is necessary that we should sit together.
An opposition leader present in the meeting said that the Trinamool supremo had proposed the name of NCP chief Pawar and everyone has agreed to it.But Pawar has refused and said that he will remain active in politics till his death, he said. Banerjee also suggested the names of Farooq Abdullah and Gopalkrishna Gandhi as the opposition candidates for the presidential election, but these names were not discussed. It is learned that the opposition leaders will meet again on June 21 to finalize the candidate.
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge said, Congress will play a constructive role in ensuring that the parties gathered here today (Wednesday) afternoon arrive at a consensus candidate in the next few days. Let us be proactive and not reactive.” Congress doesn’t have any specific candidate. It will hold a meeting with all of you and reach a candidate acceptable to all.
Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, NCP chief Pawar, Congress’s Kharge, Jairam Ramesh and Randeep Singh Surjewala, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, National Conference’s Omar Abdullah, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, DMK’s T.R. Balu, Priyanka Chaturvedi of Shiv Sena, Manoj Jha of RJD and others attended the meeting.
The presidential election will be held on July 18 and the counting of votes will take place on July 21.
