Nitish to skip crucial Sonia meeting

He wants second term for Mukherjee, as BJP yet to decide on pick for presidential candidate

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has decided to skip a crucial meeting of the non-NDA parties convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi yesterday, exposing sharp differences in the opposition over the issue of presidential candidate. However, Kumar’s ally Lalu Prasad has agreed to attend the meeting called for exploring the possibility of fielding a joint candidate for the presidential polls.

As per reports, Kumar wants a second term for President Pranab Mukherjee but many of the opposition leaders, including his own ally Prasad who is the president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, are not in favour of his idea. Apparently, the opposition of his idea prompted him to stay out of this vital meeting.

What is interesting is that Kumar himself had sought opposition unity last month and suggested that the Congress being the largest opposition party should head the anti-BJP front New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee yesterday probably gave enough hints that he may not be in the race for another term in Rashtrapati Bhavan. “I have exactly two months to go. July 25, a new President will assume office. I am sending back officials who have worked with me, back to their ministries and departments. One has gone to the Commerce Ministry, two to the Ministry of External Affairs,” he said.

The President was speaking at a farewell tea organised for the media by President’s Secretary Omita Paul for his Press Secretary Venu Rajamony, a career diplomat who has been appointed the Ambassador to The Netherlands. Rajamony will assume his new office in The Hague early next month.

Mukherjee’s remarks assume significance in the context of the ongoing hectic political activities centred around a candidate for the President’s election slated in July. The Congress-led Opposition has given enough indications that it will not be averse to a second term for Mukherjee if the government is acceptable to it. But the ruling dispensation has not given any hints about who it has in mind for the top post. in its fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). But at the same time, Kumar had suggested to the BJP to pitch Mukherjee as a consensus candidate acceptable to all parties, leading to cracks in the opposition, media reports said.

No RJD support

“The RJD will not support Mukherjee for a second term … Why should I support the candidate of the BJP?” RJD chief Prasad was quoted as saying in a local media today. The BJP though is yet to decide over the candidate although many names are doing the rounds.

According to reports, Ahmad Patel, the political secretary of the Congress chief Gandhi, called up the Bihar chief minister on Tuesday requesting him to attend the meeting, but the latter politely declined the invite. He, however, promised to send former Janata Dal United (JD-U) president Sharad Yadav as his representative to the meet.

“Nothing should be read into his decision. There is just no politics in it. In fact, the chief minister right now is very busy in his official assignments and hence has decided to stay away from the meeting,” said JD-U spokesperson Neeraj Kumar.