As the exercise for the selection of new President picked up momentum, senior BJP Ministers M Venkaiah Naidu, Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley held talks with Opposition parties to arrive at a possible “consensus candidate” before Prime Minister Narendra Modi departs for his US visit on June 25. The Opposition parties also met on Wednesday to discuss their strategy for nominating their Presidential candidate.
Naidu and Rajnath, members of the BJP committee that also includes Jaitley, will meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday to hear out the main Opposition party’s view on candidate selection. The BJP Ministers will also hold consultations with CPM leader Sitaram Yechuri after meeting Sonia.
Jaitley has already held a round of talks with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his coalition partner and RJD chief lalu Prasad. Sources said Rajnath may discuss the issue with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at a later date.
Naidu had a round of talks with BSP’s Rajya Sabha member Satish Chandra Mishra and Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel on Wednesday.
Patel and Misra, who are expected to meet the BJP panel shortly, are said to have assured Naidu their parties would take a call on a candidate after talks with the BJP panel.
The senior Ministers also discussed and elicited views of Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader Anbumani Ramadoss as also that of Congress NR leader N Rangaswamy in Tamil Nadu. Sources said Naidu has spoken to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on phone and will personally interact with him later on the issue.
Naidu on Wednesday visited Rajnath’s residence in the national Capital and exchanged views on their consultations on the presidential issue. The Prime Minister is leant to have been apprised of the progress of consultations with the Opposition parties on the issue in Wednesday’s Cabinet meet.
The notification for the July 17 Presidential poll was issued on Wednesday, beginning the nomination process for the election. The last date for filing papers is June 28.
Meanwhile, the Opposition parties held their first meeting to decide their strategy on Presidential poll. After the meeting, the Opposition did not reveal its plan with Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad saying another meeting will be called shortly to decide a secular candidate for the President of India post.
The sub-group of the Opposition leaders formed for this purpose met in the chamber of Azad, who is the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. Sources said the leaders would await the outcome of the Government initiative before taking a call on their own candidate.
Sources said the left parties proposed the candidature of former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi for the post of President. Both the CPI and the CPM mentioned that Gopalkrishna Gandhi did not have an affiliation to any political party and they would also have no objection if JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav was picked as a candidate.
“If Sharad Yadav’s name comes up, we will have no objection. He is a senior Opposition leader... A man of integrity and honesty,” said a leader of the party who attended the meeting.