NEW DELHI: A day after the opposition parties declared Margaret Alva as its Vice-Presidential candidate, several leaders of the opposition parties on Monday held a meeting at the residence of NCP chief Sharad Pawar here.
The meeting at Pawar’s residence was attended by Alva, NCP leader Praful Patel, DMK leader Kanimojhi, Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Jairam Ramesh, CPI leader D Raja, Samajwadi Party leader Professor Ramgopal Yadav, RJD’s AD Singh, MDMK leader Vaiko and several others.
Speaking to the media, Alva said, “I was invited to meet all the leaders who have supported me to fight the election of VP. We met.”
She further said that she thanked all the leaders for the trust they reposed in her.
“I know it is a difficult battle. But in politics winning and losing is not an issue. The issue is fighting the battle,” Alva said.
To a question about her fight against NDA candidate Jagadish Dhankar, she said, “I will fight for the post. And I am not going to fear anyone.”
Speaking to the media ahead of the meeting, Yadav said, “We are here for a seasoned politician like Alva ji.”
Talking about the Presidential elections, where many opposition parties did not support the common opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha, Yadav said, “They are not true opposition leaders, but they are pro-BJP and they are a stooge of BJP.”
Ramesh on Sunday said, Alva, a former Governor, a former Union Minister, a long-time MP and a very distinguished representative of India’s wonderful diversity is the common Opposition candidate for Vice-President.
Alva will be filing her nomination on Wednesday at Parliament.
NDA has elected former Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar as its candidate for Vice President. Dhankar filed his nomination papers earlier in the day in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several other senior leaders.