Presidential election inevitable as Sangma refuses to back down

Despite the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) hoping Pranab Mukherjee would become the President by consensus, an election appeared inevitable today as former Lok Sabha speaker and Nationalist Congress Party member P A Sangma said he had not opted out of the race.

Mukherjee himself appealed to all political parties for support. “I am the UPA nominee for the presidential election. I will appeal to all political parties to support me,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar on banking and insurance in Mumbai.

Putting pressure on Sangma, senior NCP leader and Union minister Praful Patel said, “Let me make it very clear that Sangma does not enjoy the support of the NCP. We wish that he does not contest. If he does, I cannot say anything now. He is a senior leader but I don’t think he should defy the party’s direction or the line of thinking.”

Patel said the party’s line was to support Mukherjee “unconditionally”.

Sangma was unambiguous about his intentions, virtually daring Sharad Pawar (who has said an NCP meeting on June 21 will take a final view on the matter) to expel him.

The ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha, which was the first to moot Sangma’s name, on Saturday said there was no change in its decision to back him.

“As of now, there is no change in our decision on the presidential election. The BJD sticks to its support for Sangma, a prominent tribal leader. We are determined to back him,” BJD leader Arjun Sethi told reporters after a two-hour party meeting.

BJD Vice-President Prafulla Ghadai said the party had proposed Sangma’s name for the top post taking into consideration his stature as a tribal leader. “As long as Sangma is in the race for the post of President, the BJD will support him whole-heartedly. There is no question of changing our decision,” he said.

Ghadai said if the former Lok Sabha leader decided to pull out of the race, the BJD chief and senior leaders would look at the matter afresh.

“A senior and respected leader like Pranab Mukherjee, who will retire from active politics, should be given a graceful send-off,” said Shivanand Tiwari, a senior leader of the JD(U). However, party chief Sharad Yadav said the statement reflected Tiwari’s personal opinion.

After a meeting of the BJP’s core group, the party decided to call an NDA meeting at senior leader L K Advani’s residence on Sunday to take a final decision. Senior leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) met Sharad Yadav at his residence. The NDA is divided as the Shiv Sena and the Janata Party’s Subramanian Swamy want a contest between the ruling coalition and the Opposition but the JD(U) and the SAD are not keen on that.

BJP leaders Advani and Sushma Swaraj are of the view that there is nothing “wrong in a contest.”

“The BJP is looking for alliance partners in Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to expand the NDA,” said a senior NDA leader, who would attend Sunday’s meeting.