At the end of his meeting with K R Narayanan today, in which he briefed the President on the Indo-Pak stand-off, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee also mentioned that the NDA supported the convention—after Rajendra Prasad—of not giving a second term to incumbent Presidents. This has brought the Presidential election back to the frontburner at a time when, given the security situation, there’s a feeling in political circles that the next President should be selected by a consensus. Sources close to the PM said that he took ‘‘no longer than 30 seconds’’ to make his point. Narayanan reportedly said nothing by way of response. Most Presidents have hoped for a second term but have seen the writing on the wall when no word comes from the Prime Minister. It was unusual for the PM to speak so directly to the President that the NDA would not support him. Sources said that this was meant to stop any confusion in NDA ranks, with the Congress and the Left raising the pitch in favour of Narayanan in the last two days. Congress sources had briefed the press that Narayanan might be willing to contest after Sonia Gandhi had called on him and offered him her party’s support for a second term. While Narayanan is said to have expressed his willingness to continue, he was ambivalent on the question of a contest, say sources close to the President. The informal briefing to the press by the Congress about Sonia’s meeting with the President was calculated to scotch P C Alexander’s candidature. While Mayawati is among those who has ruled out support to Narayanan and Chandrababu Naidu said as much to the PM when he met him, there are others in the ruling alliance who have been open to the idea. But those who know him well say Narayanan will not contest for a second term. More so, as he knows that the numbers are very close, with the NDA accounting for 52 per cent of the votes and the Opposition for 48. In recent days, the chances of Alexander, who is backed by the NDA, appear to have receded. The Congress is in no mood to support him and Naidu has also indicated his disinclination to back him during his meeting with the PM. Without the support of the TDP, which accounts for five per cent of the electoral college, it would be dicey for Alexander in a contest, even though the NCP has come out in his favour. But then, Sharad Pawar’s party accounts for just over one per cent of the votes. When the PM raised the question of Presidential candidate with Sonia not long ago, indicating that the NDA was not willing to back Narayanan, she had reportedly asked the PM to give her a list of two or three names and the Congress would indicate its preference. Both Mamata Banerjee and Nitish Kumar expressed their preference for Abdul Kalam today but that is being seen as an attempt by them to take a pro-Muslim position and undo the damage done by Gujarat.
