It's a political war, Opposition will field candidate for presidential election: Sitaram Yechury

CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury told India Today that the Opposition will field a candidate against the BJP's President pick Ram Nath Kovind.

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It's a political war, Opposition will field candidate for presidential election: Sitaram Yechury

CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury. (File Photo)

New Delhi,UPDATED: Jun 22, 2017 11:09 IST

Hours before the Congress-led Opposition's crucial meeting over presidential election, the Left has made it clear that the BJP-led ruling NDA would not be allowed a walkover in the July 17 election. Congress president Sonia Gandhi will be meeting leaders of 16 Opposition parties later today to discuss their strategy for the presidential election.

CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury told India Today that the Opposition will field a candidate against the BJP's President pick Ram Nath Kovind .

"It is a political war. Opposition will definitely contest the presidential election. A name will be finalised soon," Yechury said.

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Yechury accused the BJP of acting unilaterally while announcing Kovind's candidature.
"Barring one occassion, never in the history of this country a President has been elected unopposed. It is the BJP which has fielded candidates maximum times despite knowing it well they had no chance of winning. Why are they now wanting us to support them," Yechury said.
"They fielded PA Sangama against Pranab Mukherjee, named Bhairon Singh Sekhawat against Pratibha Patil. We have no issues with the person they (BJP) have named. This is a political war and it is about character of person concerned," the Left leader added.
Cracks appeared in the Opposition ahead of today's crucial meeting on the presidential poll, with Bihar CM Nitish Kumar's JD-U deciding to stay out of the talks after extending its support Ram Nath Kovind.
The opposition camp is yet to name its candidate for the poll, but former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar's meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her residence on Wednesday fuelled speculation that she had emerged as the front runner.
Sources said top Congress and other opposition leaders talked to several leaders to ensure the presence of all non-NDA parties at the meeting, which will decide on the opposition's presidential candidate.
Reacting to the JD-U's decision to support Kovind's nomination, CPI national secretary D Raja said the Nitish Kumar-led party should have consulted other opposition parties before supporting Kovind.
The Samajwadi Party and Mayawati's BSP seem to be confused over whether they would support Kovind or not.
BSP chief Mayawati had said her party could not be 'negative' to a Dalit candidate. However, she stopped short of expressing support for Kovind and said her party would be "positive" provided the opposition did not field any Dalit.
Samajwadi Party's Naresh Agrawal said Opposition parties would jointly take a call on a candidate at the meeting today.
However, some Left leaders pointed to Samajwadi Party's founding leader Mulayam Singh Yadav's presence at Yoga Day event, attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in Lucknow on Wednesday.