Pranab to be UPA’s presidential nominee

NEW DELHI: External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday emerged as the ruling UPA’s nominee for the post of President. The Left, which formally gave up its plans to field a candidate from its ranks at a meeting of the partners of the Left Front, decided to back Mr Mukherjee. Congress sources said CPM general secretary Prakash Karat has conveyed the Left’s willingness to back Mr Mukherjee to UPA leadership.

Although BSP supremo and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati is continuing to keep the UPA guessing on her party’s stand in the July presidential election, the ruling front is hoping that Mr Mukherjee’s candidature will be appealing for the Dalit party.

The Left leaders, who met here to decide on the Left’s strategy for the polls, concluded that their plans to foist a Communist in the Rashtrapathi Bhawan will just not succeed.

The overwhelming feeling was that a consensus within the UPA could be bulit on the external affairs minister. There was acknowledgement that the other aspirants like Sushil Kumar Shinde may not be acceptable to Ms Mayawati as she will not like the Congress to use its support for a Dalit outreach.

The Congress is hoping that Ms Mayawati will be amenable to backing a Brahmin in the BSP’s current phase of aggressive wooing of the community. But since she has sent out the crucial signal to the Brahmins in her backyard by making her political shadow Satish Misra a minister and number 2 in the Cabinet, she may not need to employ such symbolism at the Centre.

The Samajwadi Party and its friends — TDP, AIADMK, AGP and INLD — are also keeping their cards close to their chest. TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu met CPI leader A B Bardhan on Wednesday to assess the Left’s mood.

In his interaction with the Left leader, Mr Naidu is believed to have said that the so called Third Front is not inclined to supporting the candidate of either the UPA or the NDA. Sources in the Samajwadi Party said the party was also toying with the idea of abstaining from the presidential polls. The bloc accounts for 10% of the electoral college.

Although the chances of an NDA candidate winning the polls is slim at this juncture, the NDA is determined to field its nominee. Vice president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat’s candidature is expected to be sponored by the NDA. The vice president is learnt to have established contacts with many regional players. Mr Shekhawat, who shares good rapport with non-NDA leaders, could become a formidable contender if the SP-led bloc backs his nomination.

There were attempts on the part of the Left to guage the thinking in the Samajwadi Party. CPM general secretary Prakash Karat visited Mr Amar Singh in the Capital’s Batra Hospital on Wednesday where the SP leader is undergoing treatment.