Wary of being slighted by the Congress and the United Front on evolving a consensus for the presidential elections, the BJP is keeping its cards close to its chest. But the party is working steadily to ensure that the country's next President and vice-President are elected through a consensus. They hope to nominate the vice-presidential candidate in such a consensus.
Party leaders, particularly former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, have been meeting various persons aspiring for the slot. Some party leaders say they have not decided on any candidate and are willing to discuss names. Their unstated priority seems to be not to allow a Muslim to be elected to either post.
Among those who contacted Vajpayee recently are Congress leader G Venkatswamy and Rajya Sabha deputy chairman Najma Heptullah, according to a senior BJP leader. While Venkatswamy wanted to explore the possibility of the BJP supporting his candidature for the President's post, Heptullah wanted support for the Vice-President's post.
Some BJP leaders hold that Venkatswamy has been lobbying after the SC\ST parliamentary forum's declaration that the country's next President should be a Dalit and preferably a freedom fighter. Narayanan is not a freedom fighter. The BJP leader privately admitted that the BJP can support Venkatswamy but only after he first gets the support of the Congress party and that the Congress supports the BJP's nominee for the Vice-President's post.It was easier to bargain with Congress president Sitaram Kesri, he said, adding that the BJP was apprehensive in case Kesri loses the Congress elections.
Among others who have approached the BJP for its support are former chief election commissioner TN Seshan, Mahatma Gandhi's grand daughter Sumitra Kulkarni, Jan Sangh leader Balraj Madhok and noted criminal lawyer Ram Jethmalani.
A consensus is a necessity for the BJP since it may lose both the seats even if it decides to field a candidate, as long as the UF and the Congress agree on candidates. Any two of the three major groupings in Parliament viz., the United Front, the BJP, and the Congress can ensure a candidate's victory.
If the BJP is totally ignored, it will be left with no choice than to field its own candidates for both the posts, BJP vice-president Bangaru Laxman says.
The UF has about 4 lakh votes in the electoral college for the President's election, the BJP about three lakh and the Congress slightly more than 2.5 lakh. The UF's edge would be negated if the BJP and the Congress join hands, even if secretly. In BJP leaders' estimation, no consensus would be able to ignore the BJP's electoral might. But they are afraid that the UF and the Congress might raise the bogey of anti-BJPism to share the two posts among themselves.
These leaders assume that not all Front constituents would back the UF candidate and would thus be amenable to supporting the BJP. As voting for the presidential election is through secret ballot, it would be difficult to detect who voted for whom, a BJP office bearer pointed out. The party would elicit support of these parties, if the UF and the Congress tried to ignore the BJP, he said. These two posts should be treated on a non-partisan basis, Rajya Sabha Opposition leader Sikander Bakht, who is being tipped for the Vice-President's post, said. There should be a consensus for the two posts to maintain the grace of these offices, he added.
After all, Lok Sabha speaker and deputy speaker were elected on the basis of consensus and the BJP got the deputy speaker's post, he pointed out. The same kind of arrangement can be hammered out for the presidential elections.
Bakht refused to speak about his chances of becoming Vice-President but said he was confident that the BJP would take the best possible decision in the circumstances. However, he was critical of people approaching the BJP leadership for support. All these individuals canvassing for themselves must wait for the decision of their respective parties.
Another leader held that Bakht could be the BJP's best choice if there was no consensus and the UF-Congress decided to field a Muslim candidate for the Vice-President's post.
The BJP is worried that the UF has yet not initiated the process of evolving consensus for these elections.
An initiative should come from the UF, as by being in the government, the UF is in the best position to do so, BJP vice-president KL Sharma said.
An initiative from the BJP might lead to the UF-Congress consolidation, a BJP leader privately said. The Congress can also not take the initiative as this would be misconstrued by the Left parties and some other Front constituents, he held.
