Sangma hopes for repeat of 1969 Prez poll result

"I am not saying anything new as a conscience vote had played a decisive role even during the 1969 Presidential election," Sangma told reporters at the Madhya Pradesh BJP headquarters here.

He was accompanied by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, BJP General Secretary Ananth Kumar and state BJP president Prabhat Jha.

Asked if his daughter Agatha Sangma, a Union Minister, would vote for him, Sangma quipped, "Better ask this question to her."

As to whether he would join BJP or go back to NCP (if he lost the poll), Sangma said that "all this would be seen later".

The Presidential poll is not fought on party lines and even his rival, UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee, had resigned from Congress, he said.

Sangma said he was contesting the election because no tribal candidate had become the President yet. "If I am elected, I will not only be the President for tribals, but for the whole country," he added.

BJP sources here claimed that Sangma would get more than twice the votes that will be polled in favour of Mukherjee from Madhya Pradesh.

Sixty-seven per cent of MLAs and MPs from the state were likely to vote for Sangma, they claimed. AS MAS KRK RAI