Hamid Ansari is UPA's V-P candidate

NEW DELHI: Former diplomat and chairman of the National Commission for Minorities, Hamid Ansari, has been selected as the UPA’s candidate for vice-president. In a three-cornered contest, Mr Ansari is expected to have a smooth sailing.

A meeting of the UPA-Left on Friday evening formally announced the candidature of Mr Ansari. CPM leaders, who proposed Mr Ansari’s candidature at a meeting with Ms Sonia Gandhi and Mr Manmohan Singh, was lobbying hard for the NCM chairperson. The meeting was a mere formality.
When the meeting began, Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav said that since a decision has already been taken, there was “no point in a discussion” on the issue. “You should have just announced it to the media,” Mr Yadav said. The meeting quickly passed a two-line resolution announcing the candidature of Ansari and appealing to all parties to support him.

“All of us have come to unanimous understanding that Hamid Ansari would be our candidate. Ansari has an excellent record of serving the nation in many capacities, including as civil servant and diplomat, as an academic and in his current position,” Ms Sonia Gandhi said, announcing Mr Ansari’s candidature.

Mr Ansari is known for his role in ensuring compensation to the victims of the Gujarat riots and pushing for a complete re-look into the relief and rehabilitation for riot victims since 1984.A regular at the CPM-sponsored anti-nuclear deal seminars and former fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, Ansari has been quite critical of the Manmohan Singh’s foreign policy paradigm.

He was vocal about the government’s decision to vote against Iran at the IAEA. Hamid was critical of India’s decision to vote against Iran in IAEA. “The EU-3 did act independently (at the IAEA), but as a surrogate of the US. India ended up as the surrogate of a surrogate, demeaning its policy of independence. This speaks of poor diplomacy with respect to NAM, as well as a confused foreign policy,” was what Mr Ansari said on India’s decision to vote against Iran. But his views on foreign policy issues did not come in the way of his selection as the premium in the ruling alliance was on choosing a member of the minority community for the post.

Government managers are not expecting any troubles for Mr Ansari as the contest would be a three-cornered. UNPA candidate Rashid Masood has already filed his nomination papers.Although NDA is to formally announce its candidate, sources in the alliance said deputy speaker and Akali Dal leader C S Atwal will be the Opposition alliance’s nominee. The electoral college will be heavily loaded in UPA’s favour. In the 790-member electoral college, the UPA has 385 votes. The UNPA accounts for over 100 votes.