Congman Narayanan may create history

Today, Kesri hedged his bets when asked about his party8217;s line on the issue saying the Congress was preoccupied with its organisational polls and would be in a position to say something only after June 12 when the party president name8217;s will be declared after counting of votes.

History too is against any non-Congress candidate winning a presidential election in the country. Almost without a break, the Congress has sent its nominees to Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The only time a Congress candidate was defeated was in 1969 when Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy was bested at the hustings by V V Giri. Giri was also a Congressman but was floated by the powerful section of the party against its own official candidate.

Sanjeeva Reddy came back in 1977 as President and was the first consensus candidate to be elected. This was during the Janata Party rule at Delhi and Reddy8217;s name was proposed by the Janata Party. It was seconded by the Congress which was in the Opposition then. A similar situation is arising currently with the Congress out of power and a 14-party coalition holding the reins at 7, Race Course Road.

This time too, Narayanan8217;s name is likely to be proposed by the United Front and seconded by the Congress. 8220;A consensus seems to be converging on Narayanan8217;s name. We will be asked by the UF and we will agree,8221; a top Congress leader said today asking not to be named as the party had not yet taken an official stance.

Narayanan8217;s most solid backers are the four Left parties which had made a commitment five years ago when Shanker Dayal Sharma was chosen President. Narayanan was the Vice-Presidential candidate then with the rider that he will be elevated after Sharma8217;s term ends. The argument was that Narayanan would be the first Scheduled Caste nominee in Rashtrapati Bhavan and this would send a positive message to the millions of backward sections of the society in the country.

However, Narayanan has scholarly credentials too to match. This combination is expected to see him through next month when the presidential election will be completed on July 14. Sharma8217;s term comes to an end on July 24 and Narayanan is most likely to take over.

There is a catch to this though. The name of Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson Najma Heptulla is doing the rounds as Narayanan8217;s deputy. But with the Congress not in a position to argue out a case for two party members, there is a debate on. The BJP, and even some UF partners, may not like to have the Congress dominating the issue. Heptulla8217;s elevation will be a positive signal to women in the country, it is being said. But this issue is far from clinched more so as the Vice-President needs to be chosen only in August.Meanwhile, five independent candidates have also filed in nominations for the presidential elections among which was poll-happy Kaka Joginder Singh dharti pakad, the hero of scores of failed electoral battles.

Others who have filed their papers are Ved Narayan Tripathi from Fatehpur Uttar Pradesh, Ram Kishan Mittal from Shamli UP, Ram Kumar Shukla from Anand Nagar UP and Madan Lal, who has filed two sets of nominations.Sources said the papers filed so far were unlikely to stand scrutiny as none of the five candidates had fulfilled the condition of 50 proposers and 50 seconders from the electoral college, comprising parliamentarians and legislators.