Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday spoke to opposition leaders Mamata Banerjee, Mallikarjun Kharge and Akhilesh Yadav to evolve a consensus for the presidential candidate for the elections on July 18. Sources said the senior BJP leader made calls to these leaders, on a day the opposition held a big meeting to discuss a joint candidate for the polls.
The BJP has authorised Singh and national president JP Nadda to consult with other parties for building consensus on a presidential candidate. The defence minister made calls to Kharge, Banerjee and Yadav besides some other leaders. Opposition leaders asked Singh about BJP-led NDA’s nominee for the presidential election, sources added.
Singh has also spoken to BJD chief Naveen Patnaik as well as NDA ally and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. Nadda, meanwhile, reached out to allies NPP and LJP. The party president also spoke to National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, whose name is one of the two to come up during the opposition meeting.
According to sources, Singh and Patnaik discussed the upcoming presidential elections. It should be noted that the BJD skipped the meeting of opposition parties convened by Mamata Banerjee. The Odisha CM is likely to go with the NDA as a result of his discussion with Singh, sources added.
Singh also spoke to BSP supremo Mayawati and YSR Congress leader and Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Reddy.
Leaders of 17 parties, including those from the Congress, SP, NCP, DMK, RJD and the Left parties, attended the over two-hour-long opposition meeting. Leaders of the Shiv Sena, CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), National Conference, PDP, JD(S), RSP, IUML, RLD and the JMM were also among those who participated.
During the meeting, several leaders urged Pawar to be the joint opposition candidate but the veteran leader once again declined the offer. On Tuesday, too, he had refused when he met CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury. Mamata had met Pawar separately to convince him and discuss the polls with him. But, it looks like it did not work.
After Pawar declined the offer, Mamata suggested the names of Abdullah, a former Jammu and Kashmir CM, and Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson Gopalkrishna Gandhi as a possible opposition candidate, sources said. Gandhi, the 77-year-old former West Bengal governor, was the consensus opposition candidate for the post of vice president in 2017 and had lost to M Venkaiah Naidu.
Asked about his name doing the rounds as a possible candidate, Gandhi told PTI, “It is too premature to comment on it.” According to sources, Gandhi has sought some time from opposition leaders to respond to their request. Regional rivalries also cropped up as some non-BJP parties like the AAP, SAD, AIMIM, TRS and BJD skipped the opposition meeting.
Despite reaching out to the opposition to consult on a consensus name, the absence of these parties can only prove to be an advantage to the ruling BJP. With the ruling NDA having about close to half the votes of the electoral college and the possible support of fence-sitters like the BJD, AIADMK and YSR, its candidate is likely to sail through.
The opposition parties are set to meet again on June 20-21 and Pawar will convene it in Mumbai. The leaders at the opposition meeting adopted a resolution saying, “in the forthcoming Presidential elections held in the year of the 75th anniversary of Indian independence, we have decided to field a common candidate who will truly serve as the custodian of the constitution and stop the Modi government from doing further damage to India’s social fabric and democracy”.
“There will be one consensus candidate. All parties gave unanimous consensus for Sharad Pawarji, but he has said no. He said he is not interested,” Mamata told the media.
The process to file nominations for the elections began on Wednesday with the Election Commission issuing a notification calling upon the electors to fill the vacancy. Eleven people filed their nominations on the first day.
(With PTI inputs)
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