By Online Desk
NEW DELHI: The next meeting of major opposition parties to deliberate on a consensus candidate for the Presidential election is likely to be held on June 20-21 and will be convened by NCP chief Sharad Pawar in Mumbai, senior leaders said Wednesday.
After the first meeting called by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Delhi and attended by 17 parties, the leaders said that it has been decided that a common candidate who will “uphold the democratic ethos of the country” will be chosen as the opposition nominee.
At the next meeting, the parties are expected to come up with names of leaders who could be widely acceptable, they said.
While Banerjee mentioned the names of National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah and Gopalkrishna Gandhi as other alternatives, senior opposition leaders said that the remark was made in “passing” and “not seriously”.
Former West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi was the consensus opposition candidate for the post of Vice President of India in 2017 but had lost to M Venkaiah Naidu in the election.
He is the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and C Rajagopalachari.
Leaders of several opposition parties at the Wednesday meeting urged NCP supremo Sharad Pawar to be the joint opposition candidate for the presidential election, but the veteran leader declined the offer.
As many as 17 opposition parties attended the crucial meeting of opposition parties to build consensus on fielding a joint candidate against the BJP-led NDA in the presidential election.
Leaders of the Congress, Samajwadi Party, NCP, DMK, RJD and the Left parties attended the over two-hour-long meeting called by the Trinamool Congress supremo, while the AAP, SAD, AIMIM, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Odisha’s ruling BJD skipped it.
Leaders of Shiv Sena, CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), National Conference, PDP, JD(S), RSP, IUML, RLD and the JMM were among those present.
The nomination process for the July 18 presidential election began on Wednesday.
The decision of some key regional parties like the Biju Janata Dal, Telangana Rashtra Samithi and Aam Aadmi Party to skip a key opposition meet called by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the presidential poll has cheered the ruling BJP as it believes that their absence has only highlighted the faultlines and one-upmanship among its rivals.
While Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik-led BJD has always maintained a distance from the opposition camp and has often backed the BJP-led NDA government on several issues, the absence of AAP and TRS are significant as both parties have been critical of the ruling party and have called for forging a wider unity against it in the past.
The National Democratic Alliance, which already has over 48 per cent of the vote share in the electoral college for choosing the new President, is hopeful of support from the BJD and also the YSR Congress, which is in power in Andhra Pradesh and has sizeable numbers in Parliament as well.
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Like the BJD, the YSR Congress, too, has kept a distance from the opposition camp and has often lent its support to the ruling BJP in and outside Parliament on many issues while not being formally a part of the incumbent alliance.
The YSR Congress also chose to skip the opposition meeting.
Making light of the meeting, BJP spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi said many opposition leaders engage in a host of activities to establish their supremacy over each other.
This meeting, he said, has nothing to do with either the BJP or the country.
It is merely a reflection on the one-upmanship among the opposition leaders who keep looking for one opportunity or another to do that, he added.
The BJP is also keenly looking at the stand of the AAP and TRS as their national political aspirations may even make them abstain from supporting any side.
Looking to capture the anti-BJP space in different states, including poll-bound Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, the Arvind Kejriwal-led party does not want to be seen as too cosy with several regional parties and the Congress while TRS has also voiced its opposition to the Congress while skipping the opposition meeting.
Leaders of the Congress, Samajwadi Party, NCP, DMK, RJD and the Left parties attended the meeting called by the Trinamool Congress supremo.
Leaders of Shiv Sena, CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), National Conference, PDP, JD(S), RSP, IUML, RLD and the JMM also attended the deliberations, which took place on a day the nomination for the presidential election began.
The BJP has already authorised its two senior leaders, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and party president J P Nadda to consult different parties, including those in the opposition, in its bid to evolve a consensus on the matter.
The BJP also began the consultation exercise on Wednesday on evolving a consensus name for the presidential election with Singh speaking to a number of key opposition leaders including Mallikarjun Kharge, Mamata Banerjee and Akhilesh Yadav, sources said.
He also spoke to Patnaik and Kumar.
Despite their clear numerical disadvantage, opposition parties have indicated that they will field their own candidate for the election scheduled for July 18 in case more than one candidate is in the fray.
Opposition’s best hope, political watchers believe, is in a candidate whose appeal and stature may persuade some fence-sitters to support him or her and make the contest more interesting.
NCP president Sharad Pawar’s name was floated earlier but his party has asserted that he is not in the race.
The name of Gopalkrishna Gandhi, a respected scholar and former West Bengal governor, is also doing the rounds as one of the opposition’s choices.
Gandhi was the consensus opposition candidate for the post of Vice President of India in 2017 but had lost to veteran BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu in the election.
However, he did succeed in getting support from the JD(U) and BJD, two parties that had supported NDA’s Ram Nath Kovind in the presidential polls held around the same time.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) was in the opposition camp when it announced support to Gandhi and maintained its support even though he had joined hands with the BJP in the interim.
(With PTI Inputs)
