Why did Arvind Kejriwal support Yashwant Sinha?

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will vote for opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha in the presidential elections to be held on July 18.

A number of factors prompted the AAP to go against National Democratic Alliance (NDA) presidential nominee Draupadi Murmu, a tribal from Odisha.

Firstly, AAP convenor and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal shares an excellent relationship with his West Bengal counterpart and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, and Sinha as well.

Secondly, the AAP's Punjab leaders did not want the party to back Murmu as they apprehended that siding with the BJP would go against them.

They argued that the people in Punjab by and large are still against the BJP and in that case supporting Murmu would prove counterproductive and politically suicidal for the AAP.

Some of them pointed out the recent by-poll outcome in Sangrur where Simranjeet Singh Mann, whose views on Khalistan are well-known, triumphed over all other candidates despite chief minister Bhagwant Mann having represented the constituency twice in the Lok Sabha.

Thirdly, the AAP is fighting against the BJP in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, and Kejriwal knows it very well that going with the saffron party will hurt its poll prospects in the two states for he has emerged as one of the few bitter critics of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

It would also have been very difficult for Kejriwal to explain his decision to his cadre had he decided to go against Sinha given that the BJP government at the Centre is going after the AAP leaders with its Delhi minister Satyendra Jain still under judicial custody in a money laundering case. The Enforcement Directorate has now summoned his wife in connection with the case.

Kejriwal himself went on record to claim that the central government was now after his deputy Manish Sisodia.

Apart from Delhi, the AAP rules Punjab and from the two states, it has ten Rajya Sabha members. In all, Kejriwal's party has 162 legislators - 92 in Punjab, 62 in Delhi and two in Goa.

Unlike the Shiv Sena and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) which were under some sort of pressure to support Murmu, the AAP had no such compulsion.

Despite the AAP's support, Sinha is in no position to defeat Murmu who is set to become the next President of India. Her support in the electoral college has already crossed 60%.