Shah, Bhagwat hold parley on NDA President nominee
STRATEGY RSS wants ruling alliance to field Dalit or tribal candidate
BJP president Amit Shah held a meeting with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and general secretary Bhaiyyaji Joshi on Monday, during which they discussed the NDA’s likely Presidential candidate, sources said.
Shah’s arrival in Nagpur was significant in the wake of his statement that the BJP would consult non-NDA parties, who are trying to field a common Opposition candidate, before deciding on the ruling alliance’s pick for the country’s top constitutional post.
The meeting between the three leaders assumes importance amid the speculation that the NDA could field someone from the Dalit or tribal community for the post of President.
By nominating someone from a socially backward group, the Sangh intends to convey that it is not a casteist organisation. According to sources, both the RSS leaders wanted NDA’s Presidential candidate to also have a Sangh background.
Sources claimed that during the meeting, both Bhagwat and Joshi said that they did not have any objections to either social justice minister Thawar Chand Gehlot, a well- known Dalit face, or Jharkhand governor Draupadi Murmu being made the BJP-led alliance’s nominee.
Few months ago, there were murmurs in the political circles that Bhagwat could be nominated as NDA’s Presidential candidate. A senior union minister had also consulted the RSS chief in this regard.
However, Bhagwat rejected the proposal, stating that he wanted to continue working for the RSS — the ruling BJP’s ideological anchor.
During their two-and-a-halfhour meeting Shah also briefed the RSS leaders on the Narendra Modi government’s performance in the past three years . The proposed cabinet reshuffle, triggered by Manohar Parrikar stepping down from the post of Union defence minister, also featured in their talks.