Congress favours Sharad Pawar as opposition candidate for upcoming presidential elections
NEW DELHI: The Congress favours Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar as the opposition candidate for the upcoming presidential elections, hoping that the veteran politician will be able to garner support from a cross-section of political parties, including some BJP-led NDA constituents.
However, the main opposition party will support incumbent Pranab Mukherjee if the ruling side re-nominates him.
West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee and her Bihar counterpart and Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar have already stated that the National Democratic Alliance should give a second tenure to Mukherjee. His term ends on July 25 this year.
Bharatiya Janata Party sources, however, said the party is not in favour of another term for Mukherjee and would prefer to have its “own candidate” in the Rashtrapati Bhawan. The National demo- cratic Alliance has an edge in terms of votes that form the electoral college, comprising elected MPs and MLAs, for the presidential polls. Out of the total value of 1,098,882 votes, the NDA has approximately 537,614 and the opposition’s strength stands at around 402,303 while roughly 159,123 are non-aligned.
If the BJP manages to retain its entire NDA flock, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will still require around 18,300 votes to ensure the victory of his choice. The NDA is likely to sail through comfortably if it secures the support of either AIADMK with 59,224 votes or the Biju Janata Dal which has 32,892 votes. The two parties hold the key to the country’s top post.
Congress managers are of the view that 76-year-old Pawar is a powerful and influential leader who could make it tough for the BJP.