The Opposition parties have been successful in putting up a united front for the August 5 vice-presidential election as they came together to pick up former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi as their joint candidate.
The result of the vice-presidential election will be announced the same evening.
Eighteen Opposition parties, including the Janata Dal(U), which had broken ranks with the Opposition to back NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind in the presidential election, endorsed Gopalkrishna’s candidature. leaders of NCP, RJD, left, TMC, SP, BSP, DMK and others were present at the meeting.
“The leaders of 18 Opposition parties got together to decide on the vice-presidential candidate. We spoke to him, after which he has agreed to be the joint Opposition candidate for the post of Vice- President of India. He actually expressed his gratitude to all the leaders who met here to decide on his candidature,” Congress president Sonia Gandhi said after the meeting.
The choice of Gopalkrishna’s name is being seen as an attempt by the Congress and other Opposition parties to reach out to Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) national president Nitish Kumar.
The Bihar CM had favoured Gopalkrishna’s name as the Opposition candidate for the Presidential poll. After the Congress dragged its feet on finalising the Presidential nominee, Nitish threw his lot behind Kovind.
Sources said Opposition leaders took only 15 minutes to zero in on Gopal Gandhi’s name. His name was the only one discussed and was unanimously supported.
TMC’s O’Brien was the first to propose Gopal Gandhi’s name and was followed by BSP’s Satish Misra, CPI-M’s Sitaram Yechury and then all others.
The nomination papers have been signed by the leaders, including JD(U)’s Sharad Yadav, but will be filed later, O’Brien said.
During the meeting, the Opposition parties also passed a resolution condemning the attack on Amarnath pilgrims and termed it an attack on humanity and on India’s plurality and diversity.
The floor strategy for the upcoming Parliament session starting July 17 came up for discussion. It was decided to raise issues like the plight of farmers and their suicides, the fallout of GST and demonetisation, political sources said.