New Delhi: After Sharad Pawar and Farooq Abdullah, Gopalkrishna Gandhi became the third person to rule himself out of reckoning to be the joint opposition candidate for next month’s presidential election.
“Opposition’s presidential candidate should generate national consensus, there will be others who will do this far better than I,” Gandhi said while announcing his decision.
The opposition is now in a race against time to field a joint candidate against the NDA nominee. Filing of nomination for the presidential election began on June 15, and will continue till June 29.
The NDA on the other hand has the option to re-nominate incumbent President Ram Nath Kovind or field vice-president M Venkaiah Naidu. Kerala governor Arif Mohammad Khan is also said to be in the reckoning for nomination by the NDA.