Gopalkrishna out of Prez race; Oppn to meet today
NEW DELHI: Former West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi on Monday declined an offer to be the Opposition’s joint candidate for the upcoming presidential election, becoming the third name, after Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar and National Conference patriarch Farooq Abdullah, to turn down the bloc’s offer.
The announcement came a day before a key meeting of the Opposition on Tuesday to pick a candidate for the July 18 presidential election, which the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition is set to win as it is within striking distance of a majority in the electoral college which comprises members of Parliament and state assemblies.
At a hurriedly organised meeting of key Opposition parties on Monday, former Union minister turned Trinamool Congress leader Yashwant Sinha’s name was discussed at length as the possible candidate of the Opposition front, according to a senior leader present in the meeting. “At this stage, Sinha’s candidature attracted support from a number of Opposition parties including the
Congress, the Left and the NCP,” the leader said, requesting anonymity. But Opposition parties, such as the Left, want Sinha to resign from the TMC and contest as an independent candidate because some parties and the Left want a non-party candidate. There might be another round of informal meetings at 10am on Tuesday before the Opposition meeting in the afternoon, said the leader quoted above.
All Opposition parties had agreed to Gandhi’s candidature, functionaries said, but the former diplomat said while he was grateful for being considered for the highest office, he felt the Opposition’s candidate should be someone who will generate a “national consensus” and that others could do this better than him.
Gandhi said that after considering the offer deeply, he urged Opposition leaders to give the opportunity to a person who would be able to create unity among these parties. “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,” he wrote.
“Several esteemed leaders of the Opposition have done me the honour of thinking of me for the Opposition’s candidature in the upcoming elections for the highest office of Rashtrapati. 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 beside Opposition unity. I feel there will be others who will do this far better than I. And so I have requested the leaders to give the opportunity to such a person.”
Opposition leaders said Gandhi’s candidature was being discussed informally for more than a month, and both West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee as well as Communist Party of Indiamarxist leader Sitaram Yechury took keen interest in rallying other parties in favour of Gandhi. In the meeting on July 15 – the first meeting of the Opposition bloc for the presidential polls – Banerjee proposed Gandhi and Abdulah’s name after Pawar politely refused to fight in the election.
According to two functionaries, after Gopalkrishna Gandhi declined the offer, Congress was asked if it had any candidate but the largest Opposition party refused, and pointed out to Opposition managers that a Congress nominee would further divide the Opposition unity. Gandhi’s refusal came as a major shock for many parties as they had pinned their hopes on him. Gandhi had earlier fought the vice presidential election in 2017 against Venkaiah Naidu but lost. Sinha, who served as the external affairs and finance minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, has turned into a bitter critic of the current dispensation, and joined TMC in March 2021. One of the reasons why his name is under consideration is that it sends a message that all is not well within the Bharatiya Janata Party, said the leader quoted in the first instance. The final decision on a name may be taken at the meeting of the Opposition parties on Tuesday.