Does the opposition finally have a Presidential candidate? Yashwant Sinha’s ‘time to step aside’ tweet before the big meet

“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,” he tweeted.

Yashwant Sinha, who has served as India’s finance and foreign minister, has been the vice president of the Trinamool Congress. He had quit the BJP in 2018.

With three names proposed by the opposition parties as candidates for the forthcoming Presidential poll rejecting the offer, Trinamool Congress, with support from a couple of other political parties, might project someone from within the party in the in the opposition meeting convened by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar later this afternoon.

According to multiple sources, in all probability, Trinamool will propose the name of the party’s national vice president and former Union minister Yashwant Sinha. Instead of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, her nephew and Trinamool’s national General Secretary will attend today’s meet.

In today’s meeting, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has also been invited. “NCP chief Sharad Pawar invited Barrister Asaduddin Owaisi for a meeting to discuss the upcoming presidential elections. Mr Owaisi thanked Mr Pawar for the kind invitation and has deputed Aurangabad MP Mr Imtiaz jaleel to represent AIMIM in the meeting,” the AIMIM said in a statement.