WITH SEVERAL opposition parties calling for a united candidate for the election for the next President, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has begun work on finding a consensus candidate by meeting and calling up leaders of several parties. On Thursday, Sonia met Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and discussed the issue. She is learnt to have called up several leaders, including her once-fierce critic Sharad Pawar, the NCP boss, and CPI’s D Raja, among others. President Pranab Mukherjee leaves office on July 24. During the meeting with Nitish at her 10 Janpath residence on Thursday, Sonia is learnt to have asked the Bihar CM about the views of other parties with whom he is in touch on the issue of larger opposition unity. Nitish is learnt to have told her that being the main opposition party, the Congress should take the lead. He also told Sonia that all opposition parties were willing to unite to take on the BJP, according to sources. The JD(U) chief has met Pawar and leaders such as H D Deve Gowda of JDS, Biju Patnaik of BJD, the CPI(M)’s Yechury and S Sudhakar Reddy of CPI regularly over the last six months. Confirming that the Congress president called up Pawar during Thursday’s meeting with Nitish, NCP general secretary D P Tripathi told The Indian Express, “There are many issues that are being talked about, and not just the President’s election. On the Presidential election, what is being explored is whether there can be any consensus candidate.” CPI(M)’s Yechury reportedly discussed with Sonia the possibility of “like-minded” opposition parties fielding a common candidate for the Presidential poll, as also the future course of politics for the opposition. The CPI(M) has already held informal discussions on the issue with Pawar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad, sources said. On Wednesday, Sonia reportedly called up former JD(U) president Sharad Yadav, who is expected to meet her soon. Yadav is said to be one of the leaders in consideration as the joint opposition candidate for the Presidential poll. The Congress president also called up CPI’s D Raja, who was in Kerala. “Yes, I received a call from her, and I will meet her once I am back in Delhi,” Raja said. Earlier this week, senior Congress leader K V Thomas had suggested that strong regional leaders such as Pawar and Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress, who were in the grand old party once, can merge their parties with the Congress or at least rally in support, with Sonia Gandhi as the leader of UPA. Ruling out any possibility of a merger, NCP’s Tripathi said, “We are here to emerge, not to merge.” But he maintained that his party will “continue to cooperate” with the Congress, and also ruled out that Pawar is in the race for Rashtrapati Bhavan. JD(U) leader K C Tyagi said, “It is time Sonia Gandhi engages with leaders such as Yechury, Banerjee, BJD, SP and BSP and works out coalitions in states where elections are scheduled. Some sort of a UPA-III is required. Some prominent opposition leader could be its convener.” Before the 2019 General Election, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh will go to the polls this year, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh in 2018, while Odisha Assembly elections are scheduled before the Lok Sabha polls in 2019. In Gujarat, the JD(U) and NCP have announced a tie-up and are said to be keen that a larger opposition alliance is led by the Congress.
