Cong for Pawar if NDA doesn’t opt for Pranab
The Congress is in favour of NCP chief Sharad Pawar being nominated as the Opposition’s candidate for the soon to be held Presidential poll if the NDA does not re-nominate incumbent Pranab Mukherjee .
The Sonia Gandhi-led party is hopeful that the veteran politician will be able to garner support from a cross-section of parties, including some NDA constituents. However, the main opposition party will extend its support to Mukherjee if the ruling side re-nominates him. A meeting of the Opposition in this regard is expected to be held on Friday.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and her Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar have already stated that the NDA should give a second tenure to Mukherjee. His term ends on July 25 this year. BJP sources, however, said the party was not in favour of another term for Mukherjee and would prefer to have its “own candidate” in the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Congress managers are of the view that 76-year-old Pawar will be able to muster support from the Shiv Sena, a key NDA constituent. In the past too, the Sena has defied the NDA and supported UPA candidates like Pratibha Patil in 2007 and then Mukherjee in 2012. Congress is also of the view that Pawar will be able to gain support of non-aligned parties like the BJD.
In its internal assessment, the Congress observed that the UPA will have to rope in regional outfits, non-NDA parties and even independent lawmakers to ensure that a “desirable candidate” is elected as the President.
“Only Pawar sahib is capable of that,” said a senior Congress functionary. However, NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said Pawar had last week rejected Sonia Gandhi’s offer to be the Opposition’s Presidential candidate.