“I am happy to continue my service for the well-being of the common man.”
Sharad Pawar (IANS photo)
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Wednesday declined the Opposition leaders’ proposal to become the candidate for the election of President of India.
Taking to Twitter, he wrote, “I sincerely appreciate the leaders of opposition parties for suggesting my name as a candidate for the election of the President of India, at the meeting held in Delhi. However, I like to state that I have humbly declined the proposal of my candidature.”
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Leaders of several opposition parties met here on Wednesday to discuss forthcoming presidential elections and urged Sharad Pawar to be the joint candidate but the senior NCP leader declined the offer.
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In another tweet, he added, “I am happy to continue my service for the well-being of the common man.”
The meeting adopted a resolution to field a common candidate in the election slated for July 18.
The meeting was called by Trinamool Congress leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The meeting was attended by leaders from 17 opposition parties. It coincided with the date of notification for the presidential polls.
“In today’s opposition meeting, all parties proposed the name of Sharad Pawar for the presidential poll, but he said he cannot take this up now due to his health. All parties requested him to reconsider his decision,” CPI leader Binoy Viswam told ANI.
Sudheendra Kulkarni said opposition parties are keen on a candidate “who can truly serve as custodian of the constitution and stop the Modi government from doing further damage to Indian democracy and India’s social fabric”.
Congress participated in the meeting along with 16 other political parties.
Apart from TMC, Congress and NCP, the parties which attended the meeting included CPI, CPI(M), CPIML, RSP, Shiv Sena, RJD, SP, National Conference, PDP, JD(S), DMK, RLD, IUML and JMM. They participated in the meeting held at the Constitution Club of India here.
The polling for the presidential election is slated for July 18 and votes will be counted on July 21.
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