NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)   were not present during the filing of the  Opposition joint candidate Yashwant Sinha's nomination for the Presidential poll.

Sinha was accompanied by senior members of 16 opposition groups, including Sharad Pawar, the supremo of the NCP, Rahul Gandhi, the general secretary of the CPI-M, Sitaram Yechruy, and Akhilesh Yadav, the leader of the Samajwadi Party.

The JMM and AAP did not attend the meet and indicated chinks within the opposition ranks.

After Draupadi Murmu was announced as the NDA's nominee, the JMM began to have second thoughts about Sinha's candidacy. According to sources, Murmu, a fellow Santhali from Odisha, is hard for the JMM to ignore because of domestic politics and has a substantial support base in the tribal regions of the state. If it supports Sinha, a former MP from Jharkhand, it might also harm its prospects. Despite having a partnership with the Congress in the state, JMM opted not to participate in Sinha's nomination.

Speaking after the nomination, Rahul Gandhi remarked, "This is an ideological battle, and the opposition is unified behind Yashwant Sinhaji's candidacy."Other leaders who were present included  Farooq Abdullah, the head of the National Conference, D. Raja of the CPI, Saugata Roy of the Trinamool Congress, A. Raja and T. Siva of the DMK.

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