JD(U) snubs BJP,support builds for Pranab,Ansari

“After all,the Left had proposed Ansari’s name in 2007,Mukherjee’s name had also come up that time. If a consensus is built,we will have no objection to both these names. It is to be seen on which names there is more consensus,” senior CPM leader Sitaram Yechury told The Indian Express.

The DMK,a key constituent of the UPA,too does not have any objection to the two names,according to sources in the party. “Mukherjee is a senior politician and a man of stature. Ansari is the Vice-President. What is there to oppose such personalities?” a senior DMK functionary said on condition of anonymity.

Their names as well as that of Rajya Sabha MP Karan Singh had come up when A K Antony met DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Sunday,the sources added.

Samajwadi Party leaders also said they were not averse to considering Mukherjee and Ansari,though party leader Shahid Siddiqui had earlier talked about former president A P J Abdul Kalam as the party’s preferred choice. However,the SP believes Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi could emerge as the dark horse.

While senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj had yesterday suggested that the party was open to the idea of a quid pro quo with regional outfits like the SP and BSP,as well as the Left,if they proposed someone like Kalam for president and,in return,backed an NDA nominee for vice-president,the SP ruled this out.

On the other hand,SP general secretary Mohan Singh said it was ready to consider names proposed by the UPA. “We do not have the numbers to field our own candidate. If the UPA communicates its candidates to us,we can consider them,” he said.

Kalam today found another supporter in the JD(U)’s Shivanand Tiwari. “Who can be better than Kalam for the job? But there is no meeting (with the BJP) on this so far. The matter has not come up for discussion,” he said.

The JD(U)’s strong reaction to the remarks made by Swaraj on the issue indicates that the two NDA allies are not on the same page on the issue. Said JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav: “Whatever Sushma Swaraj has said is the opinion of the BJP and this is not our party’s view… The issue was not discussed in any NDA meeting and the BJP has not discussed the issue with us.”

In an apparent message to the BJP,Yadav — also the NDA convenor — added that the country was in a bad shape and “everybody needs to be on the side of caution on this issue”.

With the JD(U) expressing its anger,the BJP said the views expressed by Swaraj were those of the party and not of the alliance led by it. The party said no discussions had yet taken place with other NDA allies or “the larger opposition” on the issue. “What Sushma Swaraj had said was from the party platform and not the NDA view,” BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy said,asserting that “there was no rift with the JD(U)”.

While refusing to comment on the issue,DMK spokesperson T K S Elangovan stressed on “winnability”. “Whosoever is the candidate,he or she should be able to get the support of parties outside the UPA. The candidate should be able to gather the support of smaller parties. Winnability is important and the DMK is stressing on that,” he told The Indian Express.

CPI’s new general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy too favoured a consensus candidate,but suggested his personal view was that the next president should not be an “active politician”. The person should be one “who is away from day-to-day politics”,he said. His predecessor A B Bardhan had in an article in The Indian Express last week rubbished the idea of a “non-political president”.

Swaraj’s assertion that Ansari “does not have the stature to be president” also evoked sharp rebuke from a section of the political spectrum. The SP called the remarks condemnable.

“Sushma’s disparaging remarks against the Vice-president are highly condemnable. In fact,it does not behove of her stature at all. The SP is not going to measure any candidate by the BJP’s yardstick. It smells of the BJP’s communalism,” the SP’s Mohan Singh said.

The CPM’s Brinda Karat too disapproved of the remarks. “It is inappropriate to talk about the stature of the Vice-President,” she said.