Yashwant Sinha quits TMC, likely to be Oppn Presidential candidate

TMC leader Yashwant Sinha on Tuesday said that he will "step aside" from the party to work for the larger national cause of greater Opposition unity. His name is likely to be proposed by All India Trinamool Congress at the Opposition meeting, which was supposed to be held on Tuesday.

The former Union minister's announcement came amid speculation that his name will be pitched by TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as the joint opposition candidate for the upcoming presidential elections.

"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.

The opposition hadn't been able to finalise a candidate as three probable names declined to contest — Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar, National Conference (NC) chief Farooq Abdullah and Mahatma Gandhi's grandson Gopalkrishna Gandhi, who have all extended support but not agreed to the candidature.

Opposition parties are set to meet in Delhi soon to decide on their joint candidate for the presidential polls scheduled on July 18. A meeting convened by Sharad Pawar was initially scheduled to be held at the Parliament House Annexe later on Tuesday, June 21, 2022.

TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee is set to propose Yashwant Sinha's name at the Opposition parties' meet in Maharashtra later on Tuesday.

The possibility of unanimity on the former BJP leader’s name appears thin. He had served as finance minister and external affairs minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet. An LK Advani loyalist, Sinha fell out of the BJP's good books in the later years.

He remained with the saffron party till 2018 when he quit, alleging the country’s democracy was facing a “threat” under the Narendra Modi government. His son Jayant Sinha is still with the BJP and a member of Parliament from Jharkhand's Hazaribagh.