Presidential polls: LoP Kharge backs common Oppn candidate, 'will fight together'

Ahead of the Presidential elections 2022, senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said that the opposition parties were interested to bring a common candidate forward. Kharge, who is the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Rajya Sabha, said that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had called for unity in the polls and claimed that the parties will make a common decision. His comments came ahead of the joint opposition meeting called by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Speaking about the tactic for the upcoming polls, Kharge has now stated that the opposition will ‘fight together’. “All opposition parties want to bring a common candidate and Sonia Gandhi had asked Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerjee, DMK, and others to bring out unity, we will fight together and will decide on who will go and how to go,” the Congress leader said.

Earlier, Kharge had held meetings with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar after Sonia Gandhi called for like-minded parties to field a common candidate for the upcoming Presidential elections against the BJP. LoP Kharge had also informed of his party’s interest to hold talks with Shiv Sena president and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and other opposition parties including the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Samajwadi Party, among others.

Mallikarjun Kharge, while speaking about the meeting called by Mamata Banerjee said that selecting a candidate for the Presidential polls could not happen without the Congress’ support. He said that the party was ready to fight together in order to maintain the unity in facing the BJP. “MK Stalin, KCR, Uddhav Thackeray and many big leaders aren't participating. We want unity and a unanimous candidate,” Kharge said.

“Electing a candidate (for Presidential elections) can't happen without Congress as we have nearly 50% of the votes. But we will still go to the meeting to fight together as we don't want to break the unity. We want to fight against the BJP,” the senior Congress leader added while reiterating that the party was in for the big opposition meeting. 

Meanwhile, speaking on party leader Rahul Gandhi’s ED summons, Kharge attacked the BJP and said that the ruling party was trying to demoralise the former party chief. “We are doing Satyagraha to support Rahul Ji. The central agencies are being misused. BJP is trying to demoralize Rahul Gandhi,” Kharge said. “We are not scared of the BJP,” he further added while dismissing the ED action against the party leader.

Mamata to chair Oppn meet on June 15

Meanwhile, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee will be holding a meeting today with the opposition leaders in New Delhi. Communist Party of India (CPI) General Secretary D Raja on Tuesday stated that the Left parties are likely to attend the meeting convened by Banerjee at Constitution Club to discuss the name of opposition presidential candidates. Kharge will attend the meeting as the representative of the grand old party. 

This meeting will also help unite the opposition parties and to prepare a joint strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Earlier, Mamata Banerjee had written to 22 opposition leaders including Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Farooq Abdullah among others, urging them to attend the June 15 meeting in New Delhi.

Presidential Elections 2022 

The Presidential polls for electing the next President of India will be held on July 18, 2022. During the polls, 4,809 electors comprising MPs and MLAs will vote to decide on the successor to incumbent President Ram Nath Kovind, whose term ends on July 24. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar has informed that the notification for the election will be issued on June 15 and the last date for nomination will be June 29. The voting will be carried out on July 18 and the counting of the votes will be held on July 21. 

Image: PTI