Sharad Pawar, president of the NCP, said on Sunday that Margaret Alva, a senior member of the Congress and a former governor, will run as a joint candidate for vice president.
A day prior, the BJP-led NDA declared West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar as their nominee for the nation’s second-most important position.
On Tuesday, July 19, the final day for submitting paperwork for the election on August 6, Alva (80), a former minister for the Union, would submit her nomination.
After hosting a gathering of opposition leaders at his home, Pawar told a press conference that 17 parties were in agreement with the decision. The seasoned politician predicted that Alva would submit his VP nomination on Tuesday.
Alva stated in a tweet that it was a privilege and an honor for her to be selected as the joint opposition’s nominee for the position of vice president of India. “I thank the opposition leaders for their confidence in me and accept this nomination with the utmost humility. Jai Hind,” she added in her letter.
Along with the support of the other 17 parties, Trinamool Congress and Aam Aadmi Party, according to Pawar, will make Alva the joint candidate of a total of 19 parties. Sanjay Raut, a Shiv Sena lawmaker, claimed that the opposition is unified in this election.
“We are attempting to get in touch with Arvind Kejriwal and Mamata Banerjee. They previously backed our joint presidential candidate “The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), he continued, is running alongside the opposition in this election.
Mallikarjun Kharge and Jairam Ramesh of the Congress, Sitaram Yechury, leader of the CPI(M), D Raja and Binoy Viswam of the CPI, Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena, TR Baalu and Tiruchi Siva of the DMK, Ram Gopal Yadav of the SP, Vaiko of the MDMK, and K Keshava Rao of the TRS were also there.
AD Singh from the RJD, ET Mohammed Basheer from the IMUL, and Jose K Mani from the Kerala Congress (M) were also in attendance.
