NCP supremo Sharad Pawar refused to be a joint opposition candidate for the presidential election in a meeting called by the West Bengal Chief Minister. Mamata Banerjee in New Delhi on Wednesday. In the meeting, Banerjee proposed the names of National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah and Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson Gopalkrishna Gandhi for the July elections. Sources said that Farooq Abdullah’s son and former Jammu and Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah, however, asked not to discuss the names for the presidential election today.
Leaders of 17 opposition parties attended a crucial meeting to reach a consensus on fielding a common candidate against the BJP-led NDA in the presidential election.
Leaders of Congress, Samajwadi Party, NCP, DMK, RJD and Left participated in the meeting which lasted for over two hours, which began at 3 pm at Constitution Club in Delhi. However, some majors were absent. AAP, SAD, AIMIM, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Odisha’s ruling BJD left it.
Those who attended the meeting included leaders from Shiv Sena, CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), National Conference, PDP, JD(S), RSP, IUML, RLD and JMM. Nominations for Presidential election begin. The elections will be held on July 18 and the counting of votes will take place on July 21.
The next meeting of the opposition will be held in Delhi on June 21 to discuss the names of the presidential candidates.
Sharad Pawar urged to reconsider the decision
Pawar took to Twitter to thank the opposition parties for considering his name for the joint opposition candidate.
“I sincerely appreciate the leaders of the opposition parties for suggesting my name as a candidate for the election of the President of India at the meeting held in Delhi. However, I would like to state that I humbly declined the offer of my candidature. Done,” he wrote.
I sincerely appreciate the leaders of the opposition parties for suggesting my name as a candidate for the election of the President of India in the meeting held in Delhi. However, I would like to state that I have humbly declined the offer of my candidature. pic.twitter.com/j9lTFFJMUX
— Sharad Pawar (@PawarSpeaks) June 15, 2022
DMK leader TR Baalu told reporters after the meeting, “Leaders of all parties requested Sharad Pawar to contest the presidential election and become a joint candidate, but he rejected the offer.” He said some leaders have requested that Mallikarjun Kharge, Pawar and Banerjee discuss and discuss the issue of consensus opposition candidate for the presidential election with all non-BJP parties.
RJD’s Manoj Jha, however, said the leaders would persuade Pawar to reconsider the proposal as he was the right candidate. CPI leader Binoy Viswam said that all parties had proposed Sharad Pawar’s name for the presidential election, but added that he cannot take it now due to his health. He said all parties requested him to reconsider his decision.
However, RSP’s NK Premachandran said that Banerjee later suggested the names of Farooq Abdullah and Gopalkrishna Gandhi as possible opposition candidates.
Meanwhile, the Congress in a statement said the party would play a constructive role in ensuring that the parties gathered in Delhi in the afternoon reach a consensus candidate in the next few days. “Let us be proactive and not reactive. The Congress party does not have any particular candidate in mind. It will sit with all of you and reach a candidate acceptable to all.
who attended the meeting
Leaders who attended the meeting included NCP’s Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel, Congress’s Mallikarjun Kharge, Jairam Ramesh and Randeep Surjewala, JD(S)’s HD Deve Gowda and HD Kumaraswamy. Akhilesh Yadav SP’s, PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference’s Omar Abdullah.
The meeting which started at 3 pm ended after 5 pm. Banerjee had last week invited leaders of 19 political parties, including seven chief ministers, for a meeting in the national capital to create a “confluence of opposition voices” for the July 18 election.
A day before the meeting, Banerjee and Left party leaders met Pawar separately at his residence and tried to persuade him to be the common opposition candidate for the top constitutional post.
Too early to comment: Gopalkrishna Gandhi
Meanwhile, Gopalkrishna Gandhi said it was “too early” for him to comment on his name being suggested as one of the possible presidential candidates.
Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the former Governor of West Bengal, is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and C Rajagopalachari. He was the unanimous opposition candidate for the post of Vice President of India In 2017 but lost to M Venkaiah Naidu in the election. When asked about the possibility of him contesting the presidential election, Gandhi told news agency PTI, “It is too early to comment on it.”
According to agency sources, some opposition leaders discussed this with Gandhi over phone and urged him to consider his request to be a joint opposition candidate for the presidency. Sources further said that the 77-year-old former bureaucrat has sought some time to reply to this.
numbers game
The BJP-led NDA stands comfortably to win the presidential election, with its vote share touching the 50 percentage mark of the total electorate. While both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha have 776 MPs, each with 700 votes, the states have 4,033 legislators with varying votes who will also elect President Ram Nath Kovind’s successor.
Though the final list of voters is yet to be notified, the NDA has 440 MPs in favor, while the opposition UPA has around 180 MPs, apart from the TMC’s 36 MPs who generally support the opposition candidate. The election for the President will be held on 18 July with voting by the members of both the houses of Parliament and the State Legislatures.
(with PTI inputs)
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