The Bharatiya Janata Party today voiced its opposition to the Presidential candidature of both Vice President Hamid Ansari and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
“We will not accept any Congress candidate, including Pranab Mukherjee, for the President’s post,” said Sushma Swaraj, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, adding, “Hamid Ansari does not have the stature to become President.”
As for Mukherjee, the ruling United Progressive Alliance’s (UPA) troubleshooter and leader in the Lok Sabha, he seemed amused by suggestions that he was a front-runner in the choice of candidates. “Oh, my goodness...Oh, my goodness,” a smiling Mukherjee told reporters outside Parliament House, when asked about him being projected as a consensus candidate.
| PARTIES' POSITION ON POLLS |
| Congress: Vice President Hamid Ansari and Pranab Mukherjee are being talked of as probables. But the issue is whether UPA can afford to spare its chief troubleshooter Mukherjee. Has not officially disclosed any names.
BJP: Has made it clear that it will not support any Congress candidate, including Pranab Mukherjee, but is open to non- Congress party candidates including that of UPA allies. |
NCP: Is amenable to UPA’s choices; would prefer Ansari to Mukherjee. However, MoS Agatha Sangma has put forward her father senior NCP leader P A Sangma's name, saying a tribal and a Christian has never been President. The NCP, however, does not support Sangma's name.
TMC: Not willing to accept Hamid Ansari as he was a Left nominee. Would prefer former President A P J Abdul Kalam.
DMK: M Karunanidhi suggested certain names to Congress emissary A K Antony, but has declined to disclose the details.
The Congress has actively started discussions with its allies, with the names of Ansari and Mukherjee doing the rounds. While Sonia Gandhi’s emissary, A K Antony, visited DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi yesterday, the UPA chairperson herself met NCP chief Sharad Pawar a few days before. The UPA is now gearing up to cross the Trinamool Congress (TMC) hurdle, and Gandhi is likely to discuss the issue with TMC chief Mamata Banerjee when she visits the capital this weekend for the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) meeting.
The BJP, said Swaraj, was open to a non-Congress candidate, including that of UPA allies. “We can have an understanding with non-Congress parties, in which we support their presidential candidate and they support our vice-presidential candidate,” she said. “We will contest to win. We will work out the arithmetic.” Swaraj’s logic being, “We are looking at the 2014 elections and do not want to give the impression that we have any truck with the Congress.”
Meanwhile, referring to his hour-long meeting with A K Antony yesterday, the DMK chief on Monday said, “We expect a good president. Antony proposed (some names), and so did I. But we cannot tell you the details.” DMK has assured the UPA they have no objection to the latter’s candidate.
DMK sources said the party was not averse to either Ansari or Mukherjee, whose names had come up for discussion. “Since the Congress does not have the numbers required to get its candidate elected, we have urged the party to have a candidate who, on the power of his own standing, will be able to get votes from other parties,” they said.
While Mukherjee was amused with the proposal, he also urged reporters not to indulge in speculation.
Till now, all parties have been in favour of a “consensus candidate acceptable to all”.
However, dismissing all speculation over its stand, Sushma Swaraj today minced no words in stating her party would have no truck with the Congress.
UPA ally, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, has made it clear that it has no objection to UPA nominees, including the names of Mukherjee and Ansari. NCP member and
MoS Agatha Sangma today suggested Mukherjee should remain in the finance ministry, and pitched for her father and senior leader P A Sangma, saying a tribal and a Christian has never been the country’s president”. NCP, however, does not support P A Sangma’s candidature.
According to sources, while TMC may not agree on the name of Hamid Ansari, as he was a Left nominee, the party is likely to support former president A P J Abdul Kalam or even Mukherjee if need be.
For now, the Congress has decided to remain tight-lipped on the issue. All that party spokesperson Manish Tewari said was, “Yes, there may be discussions taking place at certain levels. One should allow the whole process to play itself out, rather than create an unnecessary hype about the whole thing.”
