BJP plans to reach out to ‘friendly parties’

THE NDA IS YET TO DECLARE ITS PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

Smriti Kak Ramachandran

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will soon reach out to friendly parties to elicit their support for the National Democratic Alliance’s candidate for presidential elections scheduled for July. President Ram Nath Kovind’s fiveyear term ends on July 25. The alliance is yet to name its nominee.

The party will delegate central ministers to meet chief ministers of states ruled by parties that are not part of the NDA, but are considered as friendly towards the ruling party, such as the Biju Janata Dal and the YSR Congress Party, according to a person aware of the details.

“There has been no communication yet, but we expect the discussion to take place at the top level,” said a BJD functionary, declining to be named.

While BJP leaders indicated that the party is counting on support from Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, the BJD functionary said, “Our chief minister has indicated that the decision rests on the choice of the candidate.”

The BJP is taking no chances to woo the BJD. In 2017, though BJD supported the NDA’S nominee Ram Nath Kovind, it did not support the NDA candidate for the vice-president’s post, and threw its weight behind the United Progressive Alliance’s nominee Gopal Krishna Gandhi.

YSRCP, which supported the NDA in parliament during the passage of crucial bills, including the

Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill and the Citizenship Amendment Bill, is expected to support the NDA nominee. In 2017, the party had supported the NDA candidate.

The BJP is also working on strengthening ties with its allies.

Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s visit to Patna on Thursday and his meeting with Janata Dal United (JDU) leader and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar stoked speculation that besides the issue of an impending cabinet reshuffle, the two discussed the presidential polls.

JDU is an ally of the NDA and runs a coalition government with the BJP in Bihar. However, ties between the two partners have been under strain recently.

Pradhan’s visit is being read as a message that the BJP is in no mood to upset the Bihar CM. Kumar’s absence from a meeting of chief ministers on April 30 and his presence at an iftar hosted by the RJD was construed as a sign of a growing distance between the allies, though both parties have denied a change.

The BJP will also need support for the vice-presidential elections to be held in August.

Since the BJP needs support from both MLAS as well as MPS, who together make up the electoral college for the presidential polls, the party will go all out to ensure a smooth sailing for the NDA nominee. It will also have to make up for the loss of two allies, the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Shiv Sena. “In 2017, BJP was in power in 21 states, and our candidate (Kovind) won with 65.65% votes. This time, too, the numbers appear stacked in our favour, even though we are in power in fewer states (17),” a party functionary said, requesting anonymity.