UPA turns down Advani appeal to replace Patil

In what has turned out to be a bitter election campaign for the presidential polls, Leader of Opposition LK Advani today made an "appeal" to the ruling alliance to replace UPA-Left presidential nominee Pratibha Patil with any other suitable candidate of its choice, in the backdrop of the allegations levelled against her.

In an official statement, he cited allegations against Patil as head of a cooperative bank and charges by a woman that the former Rajasthan governor's brother was involved in a murder. "Each of these is a serious revelation that tars the reputation of any person in public life, whose norms of probity demand that he or she comes clean. But taken together, the revelations are of such grave nature that they completely and incontestably render a person unfit to occupy the highest constitutional office in the country," Advani said.

He insisted that none of those allegations had been cooked up by the Opposition. "I appeal to you (the prime minister), therefore, to once again consult your ministerial colleagues and leaders of the allies of your party and nominate any other suitable person for the presidential election," he said.

Advani added that he was saddened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's defence of Patil by accusing the Opposition of mudslinging. He said the "revelations" can be sourced to "verifiable records of the RBI, other government agencies and memoranda submitted by the people affected by the scandals."

Meanwhile, another party leader, Sushma Swaraj, petitioned the Election Commission to take cognisance of a complaint of exerting "undue influence" against the Congress. She said the Congress had filed a petition with the Rajya Sabha for disqualifying Natwar Singh on June 26 only because he had proposed Bhairon Singh Shekhawat's name for president. "The grounds which the Congress has cited, that Singh had campaigned for the Samajwadi Party on April 1 and 2, could have been cited two and a half months earlier as well. The timing and the sheer number of errors in the Congress petition show that it is a motivated one," she said.

However, UPA has rejected Advani's appeal to replace its presidential nominee and said it would be better if the NDA withdrew Bhairon Singh Shekawat from the race. "It is true as far as their candidate is concerned. L K Advani's suggestion is right and BJP should implement it," Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters when asked to comment on Advani's appeal.

Dismissing as a "bunch of lies" the NDA's charges against Patil, including the booklet written by former union minister Arun Shourie, Singhvi accused the BJP of attempting to destroy democratic institutions through attacks on the presidential candidate.

Noting that the Congress-led combine had shown a responsible attitude and not spoken anything about the relatives of the vice-president, as also the "deficiencies" in his biodata. Dubbing as "laughable" the NDA complaint before the Election Commission concerning suspended Congress leader K Natwar Singh, Singhvi sought to bring Shekhawat into the dock by saying that the Vice President allowed the "main accused" before him to become his "main proposer".

The Congress spokesman said NDA's behaviour was like the story in Panchtantra involving a father, son and an ass and was, therefore, targeting the ruling alliance without any reason. "The desperation of the BJP is reflected in the concoction....Of falsehood, half truth and selective quotations....Given to mislead the nation," he said.