Farooq Abdullah declines to contest Presidential polls; Gopalkrishna Gandhi front-runner to be Oppn choice for now | India News

SRINAGAR / NEW DELHI: Three days later 17 opposition parties under the leadership of West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee discuss the name of the head of the NCP Sharad PawarPresident of NC Farooq Abdullah and former Governor of Bengal Gopalkrishna Gandhi as their likely candidate for the Presidential poll, the NC leadership on Saturday declined to run, citing “uncertain timing in J&K post-eliminations” special status of the state”.
It left Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma gandhi, as the lead becomes the opposition’s choice for the top vote. Opposition parties will hold their second meeting to finalize their candidates on Tuesday in the national capital. It is known that Abdullah’s withdrawal may be related to indications from Gandhi that he will only accept the candidacy as an anti-BJP bloc’s consensus choice. Pawar declined to be the joint candidate.

Sources said Pawar was chairing the second meeting and that he would extend the invitation to TRS, which skipped discussions on Wednesday.
In his statement, Abdullah said J&K is going through a critical period and that his efforts are needed to help get through these “times of uncertainty”. He also said that he has “a lot of active politics ahead of me and I look forward to making a positive contribution to the service of J&K and the country”.

“I am honored to be nominated by Mamata Banerjee Sahiba to be the general opposition candidate for President of India for the post of President of India,” said Abdullah. While withdrawing as a possible candidate, he said he would support the final choice.
All eyes are now on Gandhi. TMC director Banerjee launched Gandhi with Abdullah at Wednesday’s brainstorming session. Although some participants disliked the way CM West Bengal tried to steal the show by suggesting names without holding a prior discussion with other attendees, they were not averse to supporting Gandhi or Abdullah, with one school arguing that Gandhi’s candidacy would help shape the contest as an ideological battle between “secularism” and “Hindutva autocracy”.

Abdullah is the second politician after Pawar to refuse to run in the BJP-led election NDA seems to be comfortably placed.
Abdullah said he was “deeply moved by the support I have received and I am honored to have been considered for the highest office in the country”.
Farooq has only three MPs, including himself, in Parliamentand the J&K cluster does not exist. J&K-based political parties do not account for a large number of Presidential elections, due to their small number of legislators.