President by consensus most likely

Not a mere PM. You'll play more active politics as President or Governor. NEW DELHI, May 13: Confabulations among the senior leaders belo...

Not a mere PM. You8217;ll play more active politics as President or Governor.

NEW DELHI, May 13: Confabulations among the senior leaders belonging to various political parties for electing President of India and Vice President in July and August respectively began with majority of them favouring a consensus approach.

While the Parliamentary Forum for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes MPs asked political parties today to choose a freedom fighter or a political sufferer among them for the post of the President, more than two dozen top leaders who met on Monday, felt that a consensus should be evolved in electing the President despite political differences.

Though no names were mentioned by the leaders who attended a dinner hosted by Subirami Reddy, a Congress MP from Andhra Pradesh, it was broadly felt that the post of the President should go to a person belonging to the down-trodden and Vice President8217;s could go to a woman or a highly learned person.

The first informal discussion among the top leaders, however, is considered a set back to those working for the renomination of Shanker Dayal Sharma for the post of the President.

Sharma has called a meeting of Governors and others on June 2-3 primarily to get a certificate for himself that his handling of 21-day political crisis faced by the country after the withdrawal of support to Deve Gowda8217;s government on March 30 was perfect.

Among those who were present at the dinner were speaker of the Lok Sabha P A Sangma, former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, Jaswant Singh BJP Somnath Chatterjee CPM, Union Home Minister Inderjit Gupta CPI, Birendra Kumar Baishya AGP, T.R. Balu TDP, Ram Vilas Paswan and Jaipal Reddy Janata Dal Murasoli Maran DMK, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Santosh Mohan Deb, G Venkatswamy, R K Dhawan, Balram Jakhar and M L Fotedar Congress and others.But the resolution passed at the SC and ST Forum on Tuesday is also a set back to the prospects of Vice President K R Narayanan being elevated to the post of the President in July next.

There are indications that G Venkatswamy, a prominent Andhra Pradesh leader who heads the powerful Forum, is himself a candidate for the post.Narayanan, who belongs to the scheduled caste, has been a civil servant and cannot therefore qualify for the freedom fighter or the political sufferer category.

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Addressing a news conference, the Forum8217;s president, G Venkatswami and Ajit Jogi expressed their inability to formally support the candidature of Narayanan on the ground that the forum comprised MPs of various political parties. Hence, they limited their appeal by saying that the candidate should be from among the SCs and STs. On the other hand, top leaders of the political parties felt that the country was passing through a serious crisis. If the executive abdicated its responsibility due to unclear mandate during the past couple of years, the judiciary started playing the role of a prosecutor as well as of a judge.

Interestingly, when the informal talks were on West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu rang up Somnath Chatterjee and held long talks on the presidential election.

The Parliamentary Forum for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes also held its meeting here today which was presided over by G Venkatswamy to discuss the Presidential poll. The forum consisting of members of parliament belonging to SC and ST from all parties had played a key role in these polls in 1991 facilitating the election of K R Narayanan as Vice President later.