A beleaguered Congress is now making all efforts to ensure forging an Opposition unity on the issue of Presidential elections and one that continues till the 2019 lok Sabha polls. Ahead of the June 22 meeting aimed at arriving at a consensus on the Opposition’s answer to NDA’s Presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind, a Dalit, the Congress is making frantic calls to all the Opposition leaders and trying to explain the real political situation of the country during the last three years to drive home the message that Opposition unity was the need of the hour with Presidential polls giving just that opportuinty.
Kovind’s nomination by the BJP has already divided the Opposition parties with the JD(U) and the BSP appearing to support him even as Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and his Telengana and Tamil Nadu counterparts K Chandrasekhar Rao and EPS Palaniswamy have already endorsed the candidature of the NDA nominee making it much easier for Kovind to occupy Rashtrapati Bhawan.
The Congress is likely to pick either Sushil Kumar Shinde or Meira Kumar to counter the Dalit card played by BJP for the upcoming Presidential elections.
AICC sources said that Shinde and Kumar are two names likely to be discussed at a meeting of Opposition parties on June 22. Former Home Minister Shinde, a leader from Maharashtra, was being considered to get the Shiv Sena on board given its strained relations with the BJP. However, that hope has ended as Shiv Sena has announced its support to Kovind.
Former lok Sabha Speaker Kumar, Congress thinks may come in handy to rope in the JD(U) in Bihar where Chief Minister Nitish Kumar though keeping his cards close to chest has expressed happiness over Kovind’s candidature.
“The Presidential election is being perceived as the first move to unite the Opposition parties. The incumbent regime can be brought down only after unity in all the Opposition parties across the India. This was the first case study. If this experiment fails then it will be easy for the BJP to retain power at Centre in 2019 too. The Opposition parties and larger regional ones like JD(U), BSP, SP, have to rethink,” said a senior Congress leader.
While BSP, SP and others are waiting for Thursday’s meeting before announcing their full support to the BJP’s choice, the left parties have asked the Opposition parties to put up their candidate against Kovind as the NDA’s candidate for the post of President is from the ranks of RSS. West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee too has rejected outright Kovind’s name while NCP expressed surprise over the choice of this name. But then, the Opposition YSR Congress party and Puducherry-based AINRC have already announced their support to Kovind.
“Congress does not want to comment on this issue as we want to take a unanimous decision with all other opposition parties on the presidential elections. The final call will be taken in the meeting of all opposition parties on June 22,” leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said.