Yashwant Sinha, who is opposition's Presidential polls candidate on Monday thanked all the opposition parties for chosing him for the elections. Sinha filed his nomination papers for the July 18 election, with a host of leaders including Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Akhilesh Yadav and Farooq Abdullah accompanying him. Sinha was named as the common opposition candidate for the presidential election on June 21.
Hours after filing the nomination, Sinha said, "It's being said I am the 4th choice but I want to say even if I was at the 10th no. I would've accepted because it's a big battle."
"I'm thankful to all the opposition parties who came together & chose me as their candidate. It's being said I am the 4th choice but I want to say even if I was at the 10th no. I would've accepted because it's a big battle," Sinha was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
The 84-year-old, accompanied by his wife Nilima and flanked by leaders of at least 15 opposition parties including Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Akhilesh Yadav, Farooq Abdullah and K T Rama Rao, submitted four sets of nomination papers to Rajya Sabha Secretary General P C Mody, who is the returning officer for the 16th presidential election.
The first set of nomination papers had Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge as proposers, while the second set had Trinamool Congress leader Sudeep Bandyopadhyay as a proposer.
The other two sets had DMK supremo Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav as proposers.
Each set of nomination papers was signed by 60 proposers and 60 seconders.
Sinha paid Rs 15,000 in cash as a security deposit for the presidential election.
After filing the nomination papers, Sinha and opposition leaders offered floral tributes at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi and B R Ambedkar on Parliament premises.
Sinha is likely to launch his campaign on Tuesday from Kerala followed by visits to Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Gujarat.
Top opposition leaders including Pawar, Gandhi, Kharge, Jairam Ramesh, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, TMC's Abhishek Banerjee and Saugata Roy, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, DMK's Tiruchi Siva and A Raja, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah, CPI-M's Sitaram Yechury and CPI's D Raja were also present.
(with agency inputs)
