Presidential election: Not in race, says Sharad Pawar; oppn call on Prez nominee delayed | India News

NEW DELHI: At a meeting attended by top leaders of 17 opposition parties here on Wednesday over next month’s Presidential polls, names of Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson and former Bengal governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi as well as National Conference president Farooq Abdullah cropped up as possible nominees after Sharad Pawar declined the offer to be the opposition’s consensus candidate. Though the NCP president emerged as the unanimous choice, he said he would prefer to be in active politics.
TMC chief and Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, who had convened the meeting, then suggested the names of Gandhi and the J&K ex-CM.
While the huddle ended with the leaders asking Pawar to “reconsider” his decision, it was decided they will mull over the two names or that of any other consensus choice during another round of meeting expected to be held next week. Pawar said a decision on the joint candidate will be finalised at that meeting.

The opposition resolution mentioned about fielding a candidate, “who in this 75th anniversary year of India’s Independence can truly serve as the custodian of the Constitution and stop the Modi government from doing further damage to the country’s democracy and social fabric”.
Among the non-NDA parties who skipped the meeting were TRS, SAD, AAP, BJD, YSRCP and Akali Dal.
We will choose one candidate, Mamata says after resolution
The resolution, adopted at the meeting attended by leaders from Congress, TMC, Shiv Sena, NCP, RJD, RLD, DMK, CPM, CPI, RSP, CPI(ML), NC, PDP, JD(S), JMM, IUML and SP, agreed that a common candidate will be fielded by the opposition parties.
Among the leaders present at the meeting were Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Jairam Ramesh, Randeep Surjewala, NCP’s Pawar and Praful Patel, PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti, NC’s Omar Abdullah, SP’s Akhilesh Yadav, HD Devegowda and his son HD Kumaraswamy from JD(S), TR Baalu of DMK, RLD’s Jayant Choudhury, CPI (ML) leader Dipankar Bhattacharya, RJD’s Manoj Jha, IUML’s ET Basheer and Bijay Hasda from JMM among others. Apart from Banerjee, TMC was represented by Abhishek Banerjee, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy and Yashwant Sinha.

Among the non-NDA parties who skipped the meeting were TRS, SAD, AAP, BJD, YSRCP and Akali Dal.
At a press conference later, Mamata said, “We’ve decided we will choose only one consensus candidate. Everybody will give this candidate our support. We will consult others. This is a good beginning.”
She added, “Bulldozing the democratic system is going on in our country and every institution is being misused politically.”
Speaking at the meeting, Mamata is learnt to have said that in eight years, the Modi government had failed miserably on its promise of “achhe din”.
She set the tone by listing out various issues including unemployment reaching an unprecedented level, the draconian farm laws which have since been withdrawn, the state of the economy and the falling rupee. She accused the government of promoting hate and using various agencies to target the opposition. She also said the Centre’s Kashmir policy had failed as Kashmiri Pandits are being targeted in the valley.

“I sincerely appreciate the leaders of 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 like to state that I have humbly declined the proposal of my candidature,” Pawar tweeted after the meeting.
RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary urged Pawar to reconsider his refusal “given the circumstances”. He said the prospective candidate should be seen by the farming community as their strong votary. He said identity plays a strong role in leadership, and the person chosen should have an appeal across regions and castes, underlining that 70% of India is rural with farmer population as the core.
The presidential elections are slated for July 18. The process of nominations started on Wednesday, with 11 people filing their nominations on the first day.