Former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi declined the Opposition’s invitation to contest the Presidential race. Mr. Gandhi is the third public figure to back out of the fight after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar and former J&K Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah. The Opposition is now considering TMC vice president Yashwant Sinha. A final decision will be taken at a meeting on Tuesday morning.
Mr. Gopalkrishna Gandhi issued a statement saying that the Opposition’s candidate should be the one who will “generate a national consensus” and a “national atmosphere beside Opposition unity”. “I feel there will be others who will do this far better than I. And so, I have requested the leaders to give the opportunity to such a person,” he said. Mr. Gandhi had contested the Vice-Presidential polls in 2017.