Yashwant Sinha quits Trinamool Congress ahead of Presidential polls

Amid buzz that Trinamool Congress leader Yashwant Sinha is being considered as a nominee by the Opposition for the presidential polls, the former union minister has tweeted that he is “stepping aside” from the party.

In a tweet, which hinted at a possible resignation from the TMC, Sinha expressed his gratitude to party chief Mamata Banerjee for welcoming him to the party, and said that time has come for him to work for a larger cause.

“I am grateful to Mamataji for the honour and prestige she bestowed on me in the TMC. Now a time has come when for a larger national cause I must step aside from the party to work for greater opposition unity. I am sure she approves of the step,” he tweeted.

Sinha, who was earlier with the BJP switched over to the TMC in March last year ahead of the West Bengal Assembly elections. The same month he was appointed as the vice president of the party.

His name has been proposed as a presidential poll candidate by a few opposition parties and a few others have seconded it.

A former IAS officer, Sinha joined politics in 1984, eventually becoming the finance minister under the Janata Dal-led Chandra Sekhar government in 1990-91. He later moved to the BJP and has held the key portfolios of finance and external affairs in the Vajpayee government.

Opposition parties are set to meet in Delhi on Tuesday to decide on their joint candidate for the presidential polls scheduled on July 18.