Prez poll: BJP chief tasks Rajnath, Jaitley and Naidu to reach out to Oppn

They're to discuss with other parties, to get as wide an agreement as possible

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah announced a three-member committee to consult other political parties on a candidate for the country's next President.

 

This comes two days before a meeting of representatives of 17 parties in the opposition, to get a common candidate for the presidential poll, scheduled for July 17. Filing of nominations for the election begins on June 14 and continues till June 28.

The BJP committee comprises Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Venkaiah Naidu. "This committee will consult leaders of different political parties and try to evolve a consensus," the party said.

The electoral college numbers are stacked against the opposition. It appears these parties would agree to put up a common candidate only if the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance were to field somebody with a strident 'Hindutva' image. Opposition leaders also conceded there could be an erosion in their unity if the BJP were to field an "acceptable face".

Examples in this regard are Jharkhand's governor, Droupadi Murmu or Kerala's govenor, P Sathasivam, a former chief justice of the country.

"None of the political parties, not even the Congress, would find it politically sagacious to vote against a tribal or even Sathasivam, who is a self-made man and hails from a socially backward community of Kerala," said a non-Congress opposition leader, who didn't want to be named.

Naveen Patnaik, chief minister of Odisha, has already conveyed to opposition leaders that his party would vote in favour of a Murmu candidature (she is from Odisha and has been a minister there).

Opposition leaders said their strategy would depend on the BJP's choice. Names like former West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the Congress' Meira Kumar and the Janata Dal's Sharad Yadav have been discussed.

An 'acceptable' face from the BJP could make this election a repeat of 2002, when the Atal Behari Vajpayee government had fielded missile scientist Abdul Kalam. It was a one-sided contest, with the Left parties backing Azad Hind Fauj veteran Lakshmi Sehgal. Kalam received 90 per cent of the votes, including those of the Congress and Samajwadi Party.

However, a BJP candidate with a Hindutva image would have the opposition making it a 'Godse versus Gandhi' battle, by possibly fielding Mahatma Gandhi's grandson, Gopalkrishna Gandhi.

The three Union ministers chosen have good cross-party contacts, and could influence several fence-sitters among regional parties to support the BJP. The final decision on the nominee will be taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah.

The presidential electorate comprises elected members of the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and state assemblies. According to a top BJP leader's estimate, the NDA has a majority of 115,000 votes in the 1,098,882 electoral college votes (each voter's ballot is multiplied by a varying factor, set in a given formula.

Regional parties AIADMK, Telangana Rashtra Samiti and YSR Congress have already announced their support to a BJP candidate.