Sonia to meet Oppn leaders on Prez polls
THE CONCLAVE – PLANNED IN MAY SECOND HALF – WILL WORK OUT AN OUTREACH PLAN TO MOBILISE SUPPORT WITH LEADERS OF STATE PARTIES.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi is likely to convene a meeting with leaders of non-NDA parties to pursue plans for putting up a common candidate for the Presidential elections scheduled in July.
The conclave – planned in May second half – will work out an outreach plan to mobilise support with leaders of state parties. Congress, however, will not take part in the conclave.
Gandhi will contact TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, while Sitaram Yechury, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Sharad Pawar will have to ensure the support of the BJD, AIADMK and Shiv Sena, sources said.
“We expect that an agreement will be formalised shortly,” Janata Dal (U) spokesman K C Tyagi said. Despite the BJP’s thumping win in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, the saffron party remains short of the halfway mark in the Electoral College that will elect a new President before Pranab Mukherjee’s term expires on July 25.
Sensing the possibility of upstaging the BJP’s plans to elect its nominee as the next President, Opposition party leaders, including Nitish Kumar (Janata Dal-United), Sitaram Yechury (Communist Party of India-Marxists) and D Raja (Communist Party of India) discussed the issue at individual meetings with Sonia last week.
Approximately short by 21,000 votes in the Electoral College, the ruling coalition will need support from parties such as the AIADMK or BJD to ensure that its Presidential nominee gets through. In March, the BJP’s griping ally Shiv Sena said RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s name should be considered for the next President of India. The Shiv Sena had said that if the dream of a “Hindu Rashtra” (Hindu nation) has to be fulfilled, then Bhagwat should be made President. But Bhagwat himself said he was not interested in the President’s post. As a precursor to the bigger conclave being planned in May second half, Opposition party leaders are coming together on the same platform on Monday at a function to mark the 95th birth anniversary of late socialist leader Madhu Limaye.