Presidential election is ideological fight: Yashwant Sinha

HYDERABAD: Terming the presidential election as a battle of two ideologies not between two individuals, joint opposition parties candidate Yashwant Sinha said, the elections are being held under extraordinary circumstances. He vowed to continue to fight even after the presidential elections along with TRS supremo KCR and meet him again.
Speaking at the meeting organised by the TRS at Jal Vihar on Saturday, the former union minister said the election is important as there is a concern from the people and the intellectuals that the nation is collapsing. Overwhelmed by the grand reception by the TRS cadre and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and support extended to him, Sinha said he is fortunate to get support from the TRS.
Taking a dig at prime minister Narendra Modi on the presidential elections, the presidential candidate said Modi only believes in confrontation, not in consensus. “Consensus means consultations should happen with chief ministers and parties’ leaders, but Modi does not believe in that,” Yashwant Sinha said.
He said he tried to reach out to PM Modi over phone after filing his nomination papers as presidential candidate. However, Sinha said he was informed by the PMO that the PM was not available. Till date he had not received any response from the PM. Accusing the PM for misusing central investigating agencies like CBI, ED and IT against the opposition parties’ leaders, he said when he worked as finance minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s cabinet, he never imagined that the ED could be used against opponents in politics. “If am elected as president of India, my priority is upholding the Indian Constitution and democracy,” he said.
Praising CM KCR, Sinha said he was an able leader and has seen the `Telangana miracle’ now. After coming to power, KCR developed the state in a short span, he said.
Before that KCR received Yashwant Sinha at Begumpet airport along with his TRS working president KT Rama Rao and other cabinet colleagues. The TRS organized a bike rally from Begumpet to Jal Vihar. Meanwhile Congress senior leader V Hanumantha Rao also received Sinha at Begumpet airport. The Congress party decided to stay away from meeting Sinha during his visit to Hyderabad.