Indian politician Gopalkrishna GandhiNEW DELHI, Jun 21 Grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, former governor of the state West Bengal Gopalkrishna Gandhi turned down an offer to become the country's opposition candidate in the upcoming presidential elections in India. «Several respected opposition leaders have honored me by nominating me as an opposition candidate in the upcoming elections for the highest office. I am very grateful to them. But after studying the issue in depth, «I see that the opposition candidate should be someone who, in addition to the unity of the opposition, will create a national consensus and a national atmosphere. I feel that there are others who will do it much better than me. Therefore, I asked the leaders to give an opportunity to such a person, «says in Gandhi's statement. Shna Gandhi was a candidate for the post of Vice President of India, but during the voting he lost to the incumbent Vice President Venkaya Naid. July 18, votes will be counted on July 21. The President of India is the head of state and supreme commander of the country's armed forces. Formally, the Indian constitution allows for a significant role of the president in governing the country, but in reality he performs mainly representative functions, while the country is led by the head of government.
