BJP may opt for consensus on presidential candidate

Little clarity within the UPA over the presidential candidate and the way BSP chief Mayawati will go have thrown the BJP a little off the track.

While the BJP leaders are clear that Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat will be their choice for president, realists say the party is not ready to face the possible humiliation of losing the presidential poll.

"It makes more sense to negotiate with the UPA on a consensus candidate and manoeuvre and get an opposition party's candidate elected as vice-president than get into an election," said a source in the BJP.

To this effect, the former principal secretary to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Brajesh Mishra, is said to have met Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

The aim of the meeting was to decide a consensus candidate for the post of president and get an opposition candidate elected as vice-president. The only block is not just the Congress' own resistance to collaborating with the BJP but also the stated desire of the Left parties for getting one of their candidates elected as vice-president.

When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met the Left leaders around 10 days ago, the latter wanted a political candidate, but left the choice to the Congress.

The condition was that a Left leader should be made vice-president. The BJP feels that it will be worth the effort to trip the Left.

"The BJP, looking at this scenario has, therefore, postponed the announcement of an NDA candidate to June 10, when the alliance leaders will meet former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee again and come up with a candidate, if at all," said a senior office-bearer of the party.