New Delhi: Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat filed his nomination as an Independent candidate for the presidential poll on Monday, setting the stage for a straight contest for the post of 13th President of India.
Leaders of the NDA, which has already declared its support to Shekhawat, accompanied Shekhawat as he went through the process of filing of nominations. Shekhawat filed two sets of nomination papers for the July 19 polls, which will most probably be a straight fight between him and UPA-Left nominee Pratibha Patil.
Leaders of Shiv Sena and Trinamool Congress were conspicuously absent on the occasion, clearly showing the cracks within the NDA. The Shiv Sena has not yet revealed its stand on the presidential poll.
There has been speculation that the Sena may get swayed by Pratibha Patil's Marathi card and eventually side with the UPA camp.
The Trinamool Congress, too, has been evasive so far on the issue of support to Shekhawat with its chief Mamata Banerjee still
batting for a second term to incumbent APJ Abdul Kalam.
NDA leader Sushma Swaraj, however, told reporters that Trinamool Congress MP Dinesh Trivedi could not make it as his plane was late. She hoped Shiv Sena would support Shekhawat.
A solace for the 84-year-old Shekhawat was the presence of suspended Congress leader K Natwar Singh and Bhim Singh of the Panthers Party, which has recently snapped ties with Congress-led coalition in Jammu and Kashmir.
Unfazed by the numbers heavily loaded against him, Shekhawat, a veteran of many a poll battle, the Vice-President and his backers are relying on support from his "friends" across the political spectrum.
NDA leader Sushma Swaraj likened the tussle to the historic battle in 1969 in which independent VV Giri trounced the official Congress nominee Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy — a comparison dismissed by the Congress.
(With agency inputs)
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