Presidential elections: AIMIM lends support to Yashwant Sinha

The All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday announced that this party will be voting for the opposition candidate, 83-year-old Yashwanth Sinha in the upcoming Presidential elections, scheduled to take place on July 18.

The Hyderabad MP tweeted that Yashwant Sinha earlier spoke to him over the phone.

On Monday, Yashwant Sinha accompanied by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (NC) chief Farooq Abdullah, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leader and Telangana Minister K. T. Rama Rao, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Abhishek Banerjee, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Congress leader Mallikarjun KhargeTelangana Rashtra filed his nomination at the Parliament in Delhi.

Earlier, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar had invited Asaduddin Owaisi for June 21 meeting to discuss the presidential elections.

The AIMIM chief had deputed party leader and Aurangabad MP Imtiaz Jaleel for the meeting.

The Hyderabad-headquartered party has two Lok Sabha members one each from Telangana and Maharashtra and 14 MLAs — seven in Telangana, five in Bihar and two in Maharashtra.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had ignored AIMIM for the June 15 meeting of opposition parties hosted by her to discuss the strategy for the Presidential elections.

Owaisi had said that even if his party was invited it would not have attended as the Congress party was invited.

TRS supports Sinha

Taking to Twitter, on Monday, KTR wrote, “President of @trspartyonline Sri KCR Garu has decided to extend support to the candidature of Sri @YashwantSinha Ji in the election for President of India Along with our Members of Parliament, I will be representing the TRS at the nomination today.”

Earlier on Friday, Sinha promised to raise his voice for farmers, workers, unemployed youth, women, and all marginalized sections of society if he wins the election.

(With IANS inputs)