Captain Lakshmi Sehgal came as a face-saver to the Left which today fielded the country’s first woman presidential candidate and a freedom fighter of Subhas Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army (INA)-vintage.The choice of 87-year-old Sehgal somewhat blunted the criticism of the Left’s former allies like the Samajwadi Party and also papered over the cracks within since a section was for boycotting the polls.‘‘At least we can teach them (the BJP-led NDA) a lesson. The Left has unitedly put a candidate who has fought for the country’s freedom and served the poor and the underprivileged throughout her life. It is a political battle and we are fighting it with the first women presidential candidate — Lakshmi Sehgal. And she has agreed to contest,’’ CPM general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet said.Former prime ministers V P Singh and H D Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal (S) are supporting the Left candidate, Surjeet added.‘‘She symbolises the best tradition of the Indian national movement. Daughter of the first woman parliamentarian A V Ammukutty, she was herself the first woman Cabinet Minister in Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s Azad Hind Government and continues in her profession as a doctor in Kanpur,’’ CPI general secretary A B Bardhan said.Angry with the BJP-led NDA for managing to split the People’s Front and the much-flaunted opposition unity with the Congress, sources said the Left consciously chose to field a candidate which could even divide the BJP ranks.‘‘The BJP has been talking so much about Subhas Chandra Bose and the INA’s contribution to the national freedom struggle which has been overlooked, let them now support the candidate who led the INA’s Rani Jhansi Brigade and made so many sacrifices for the country,’’ a Left leader said, adding that let the Congress and the Samajwadi Party also explain why they won’t support a person of Capt Lakshmi Sehgal’s stature.In fact, the Samajwadi Party leader and Mulayam Singh’s second-in-command Amar Singh was defensive: ‘‘We have nothing against Capt Lakshmi Sahgal, she is an illustrious lady whose contributions for the country and Uttar Pradesh cannot be denied. But Surjeet is not just making a mistake, but a historical blunder by making her contest (the president’s election).’’Sahgal who is arriving in Delhi tonight, will file her nomination in a day or two. Union HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi said: ‘‘It is good that a woman candidate has been fielded for the first time. But it is sad that the Left decided to drag her into the political game of tokenism, instead of supporting an equally eminent person like Kalam for whom there is a near consensus.’’The Congress kept mum on this development as spokesperson Jaipal Reddy refused to comment on the Left move.
