New Delhi: Former union minister Yashwant Sinha filed his nomination on Monday as the common opposition candidate against NDA nominee Droupadi Murmu for the July 18 presidential election, a contest described by his supporters as a battle of ideologies.
After filing his nomination, Sinha in a press conference said, “I’m thankful to all the opposition parties who came together and chose me as their candidate. It’s being said I am the 4th choice but I want to say that even if I was at the 10th one, I would’ve accepted because it’s a big battle,” said Yashwant Sinha.]
“President has certain responsibilities in the Constitution and it is his responsibility to be a part of the checks and balances,” said Sinha.
“Presidential poll is a battle between the ideology of absolute power and that of freedom,” said the Opposition’s Sinha.
Sinha who was a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party up until his exit in 2018 citing “grave risk to India’s democracy” said that he would reach out to his old BJP colleagues for support in presidential polls.
“The BJP I was part of had internal democracy, current BJP lacks it,” said Sinha.
While speaking about being pitted against a tribal candidate, Droupadi Murmu, in the presidential elections, Sinha said, “Politics of symbolism not acceptable, will talk of track record.”
Sinha is likely to launch his campaign on Tuesday from Kerala followed by visits to Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Gujarat.
(The story has been edited with inputs from PTI)
