Opposition chooses its presidential pick

With Mr Sinha’s name, the Opposition hopes to create a joint platform for parties to come together despite ideological and personal differences. The next few weeks will be critical

After weeks of negotiations, the Opposition bloc announced former Union minister Yashwant Sinha as its candidate for the upcoming presidential polls on Tuesday, a relief for the group that faced rejections from three previous nominees before picking the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-turned-Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader. Mr Sinha is a TMC Rajya Sabha member (he said on Tuesday that he will quit the party to work for the “larger national cause” of “Opposition unity”), but was earlier one of the tallest figures of the BJP in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-LK Advani era. He is credited for kickstarting the construction boom in the early 2000s through a series of reform-oriented budgets, spurring highway construction and cutting regulatory red tape in the petroleum and telecom sectors. In recent years, however, he has turned a bitter critic of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government and finally quit the BJP in 2018.

In recent years, however, he has turned a bitter critic of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government and finally quit the BJP in 2018.  (HT Photo)

With Mr Sinha’s name, the Opposition hopes to send a message of political unity and create a joint platform for parties to come together despite ideological and personal differences. The aim of the bloc is largely symbolic — in the electoral college, the NDA is within striking distance of a majority and with the help of smaller parties, its nominee is almost certain to be the next occupant of Rashtrapati Bhavan — but this is just as important at a time when the Opposition is often seen bereft of a clear agenda to take on the government. It remains to be seen how the Opposition crafts the campaign for Mr Sinha, whether it garners support of some parties that have stayed away from joint parleys to find a candidate, and whether it can match the political messaging of the NDA camp. The next four weeks will be important for the future of Opposition politics.