UNPA leaves Left in lurch

NEW DELHI: The process for vice-presidential election got an early momentum on Monday when the third front (UNPA) entered the ring by naming former Union minister and Samajwadi Party Lok Sabha member Rasheed Masood as its candidate. Mr Masood, 59, is a five-time MP from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Though the UNPA move, by playing the predictable Muslim card, to make it a triangular contest will not make any difference to the clear numerical advantage the UPA-Left combine has against the NDA in the vice-presidential polls, it has clearly exposed the Left’s exaggerated claim of having a grip on the political reflexes of the newly-formed front.

Mr Masood’s candidature was announced just a day after CPI-M leadership said he was confident of the UNPA, along with the UPA, too rallying around a candidate that the Left would select to contest against the NDA.

The announcement of the UNPA candidate was made by Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh at a press conference in Mumbai. “Masood has excellent credentials. He has been an MP several times, as well as a Cabinet minister. He is a veteran politician and his credentials are definitely better than those of Pratibha Patil’s,” Mr Singh told reporters here. He said Mr Masood was the unanimous choice of all the members of the UNPA.

“There were other names discussed but there is no point mentioning it now. All the main constituents of UNPA, including Jayalalitha, N Chandrababu Naidu, Babulal Marandi and others will be present when Masood files his papers soon,” he said. The entry of Mr Masood ends speculations about the possible candidature of National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah.

Asked whether UNPA had been in talks with UPA or NDA for its sup-port, he said “we have neither asked them for support nor are we ex-pecting it from Congress or BJP. We have opposed the candidature of Pratibha Patil and nothing will change in the Vice Presidential elec-tions.”

Singh said the Left parties had been informed of the decision to field Masood as the candidate for Vice Presidential post. “The Left also in-formed us that they were supporting Patil for the post of President and in the same way, we informed them of Masood’s candidature. We are always in talks with the Left but we understand that it is their political compulsion to support UPA and its candidate,” Mr Singh said.