India's opposition parties on Tuesday named Yashwant Sinha, a former Finance Minister, as their joint candidate for the presidential polls slated for next month. "In the forthcoming Presidential elections, we have decided to elect a common candidate and stop the Modi government from doing further damage," the opposition parties said in a statement. "At a subsequent meeting held today, we have chosen Yashwant Sinha as a common candidate. We appeal to all political parties to vote for Yashwant Sinha," it added. READ: Indian High Commission celebrates 8th International Day of Yoga A former leader of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Sinha served as the Finance Minister in Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government.  Following apparent disagreements with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's current dispensation, Sinha quit the BJP and joined Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress party recently. The BJP, on the other hand, is yet to announce its candidate for the presidential polls. Incumbent President Ram Nath Kovind's five-year term ends on July 24.

India's former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha joined West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress party on Saturday, a decision he claimed was influenced by the recent attack on the eastern state's Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.