While the Trinamool Congress had proposed Yashwant Sinha’s name as the presidential candidate, the others, mainly Left parties and the Congress, insisted he quit the TMC so that he is a more acceptable candidate.
New Delhi: Hinting that he has accepted to become the Presidential candidate of a section of Opposition parties, Yashwant Sinha on Tuesday morning tweeted that he is quitting the Trinamool Congress for “greater opposition unity”.
“I am grateful to Mamataji for the honour and prestige she bestowed on me in the TMC. Now a time has come when for a larger national cause I must step aside from the party to work for greater opposition unity. I am sure she approves of the step,” Sinha said in a tweet.
While the Trinamool Congress had proposed Yashwant Sinha’s name as the presidential candidate, the others, mainly Left parties and the Congress, insisted he quit the TMC so that he is a more acceptable candidate.
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Yashwant Sinha had quit the BJP in 2018 and had joined the TMC in 2021 and was appointed as the party’s vice-president.
This comes days after Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar declined an offer to become the Presidential candidate when requested at a meeting of Opposition parties in Delhi. Following which, the Opposition parties agreed to have one candidate for the presidential polls and Sharad Pawar, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav were given the responsibility to convene another meeting where a candidate for the Presidential election would be selected.
Speaking on the occasion, Mamata Banerjee had said, “Several parties were here. We have decided we will choose only one candidate. Everybody will support this candidate. We will consult with others. This is a good beginning. We sat together after several months, and we will do it again.”