17 Oppn parties to field common candidate
*Rajnath speaks to Pawar, Patnaik, others
NEW DELHI, June 15:
The next meeting of major opposition parties to deliberate on a consensus candidate for the Presidential election is likely to be held on June 20-21 and will be convened by NCP chief Sharad Pawar in Mumbai, senior leaders today.
After the first meeting called by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Delhi and attended by 17 parties, the leaders said that it has been decided that a common candidate who will “uphold the democratic ethos of the country” will be chosen as the opposition nominee.
At the next meeting, the parties are expected to come up with names of leaders who could be widely acceptable, they said.
While Banerjee mentioned the names of National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah and Gopalkrishna Gandhi as other alternatives, senior opposition leaders said that the remark was made in “passing” and “not seriously”.
Former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi was the consensus opposition candidate for the post of Vice President of India in 2017 but had lost to M Venkaiah Naidu in the election.
He is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and C Rajagopalachari.
Leaders of several opposition parties at the Wednesday meeting urged NCP supremo Sharad Pawar to be the joint opposition candidate for the Presidential election, but the veteran leader declined the offer.
As many as 17 opposition parties attended the crucial meeting of opposition parties to build consensus on fielding a joint candidate against the BJP-led NDA in the Presidential election.
Leaders of the Congress, Samajwadi Party, NCP, DMK, RJD and the Left parties attended the over two-hour-long meeting called by the Trinamool Congress supremo, while the AAP, SAD, AIMIM, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Odisha’s ruling BJD skipped it.
Leaders of Shiv Sena, CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), National Conference, PDP, JD(S), RSP, IUML, RLD and the JMM were among those present.
The nomination process for the July 18 Presidential election began today.
RJD’s Manoj Jha, however, said the leaders would convince Pawar to reconsider the offer as he was the right candidate.
CPI’s Binoy Viswam said, “There was consensus in the meeting that there should be only one candidate who is acceptable to all”.
He said that only Sharad Pawar’s name came up during the meeting.
The leaders who attended the meeting included Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel of the NCP, Mallikarjun Kharge, Jairam Ramesh and Randeep Surjewala of the Congress, H D Deve Gowda and H D Kumaraswamy of the JD(S), Akhilesh Yadav of the SP, Mehbooba Mufti of the PDP and Omar Abdullah of the National Conference.
The meeting which began at 3 pm ended a little after 5 pm.
Banerjee last week invited leaders of 19 political parties, including seven chief ministers, for the meeting in the national capital to produce a “confluence of opposition voices” for the July 18 election.
A day ahead of the meeting, Banerjee and Left party leaders had met Pawar at his residence separately to try and convince him to be the common opposition candidate for the top Constitutional post.
With the ruling NDA having about half the votes of the electoral college and the possible support of fence-sitters like the BJD, AIADMK and YSR, its candidate is likely to sail through the contest.
Meanwhile, as the ruling BJP reached out to several parties across the political spectrum to build a consensus choice for the top constitutional post with senior party leader Rajnath Singh speaking to Sharad Pawar, Mallikarjun Kharge, Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav and Naveen Patnaik, sources said today.
Singh also talked to BJP ally and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati and YSR Congress leader Jagan Reddy.
Singh made the calls to leaders from opposition parties Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Trinamool Congress (TMC), Samajwadi Party (SP), Biju Janata Dal (BJD) among others and enquired from them about their preference for the next President.
Singh has also called Janata Dal (United) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and BJD supremo and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to deliberate upon the presidential polls, the sources said.
The Opposition leaders asked Singh about BJP-led NDA’s nominee for the Presidential election, they said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has authorised Singh and party’s chief J P Nadda to consult with other parties for building consensus on a Presidential candidate.
Party sources said Nadda will also hold interactions with leaders from across the political spectrum. (PTI)
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