Former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha, who recently lost the presidential election as an opposition candidate, said today that he will not join any other political party and remain "independent".
Mr Sinha, 84, also said he is yet to decide on what role he wants to play in public life going ahead.
"I will remain independent and will not join any other party," Mr Sinha, who had quit as Trinamool Congress national vice-president ahead of the presidential election, told news agency Press Trust of India.
Yashwant Sinha was the joint nominee of non-BJP parties, including the Congress and the Trinamool.
NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu, who won the presidential election, took oath as the 15th President of India on Monday.
Asked if he is in touch with the Trinamool leadership, Mr Sinha replied in the negative.
"Nobody has spoken to me; I have not spoken to anyone," he said, adding, he has been in contact with a Trinamool leader on a "personal basis".
"I have to see what role I will play (in public life), how active I will be. I am 84 now, so these are issues; I have to see how long I can carry on," the former Finance Minister said.
Yashwant Sinha, a bitter critic of the BJP, had joined the Trinamool in March 2021, days ahead of the West Bengal Assembly polls. He had quit the BJP in 2018.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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