Rift within BJP on presidential polls?
There are serious differences among Bharatiya Janata Party leaders over the strategy to be adopted for the presidential elections, it has been reliably learnt.
According to sources, while Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi favours supporting Mr P.A Sangma who is being backed by Tamil Nadu chief minister and All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) supremo Jayalalithaa, leaders like Mr L.K. Advani and Ms Sushma Swaraj are of the view that it has always been the practice for smaller and regional parties to back the BJP’s candidate, and not vice versa.
Ms Jayalalithaa was the first regional leader to throw her weight behind Mr Sangma, after which Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik followed suit.
As part of her attempt to garner support for the Northeast tribal leader, Ms Jayalalithaa worked the phone and tried to prevail on a range of leaders — such as Mr Prakash Karat, Mr A.B. Bardhan, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mr L.K. Advani — to back Mr Sangma. But no leader committed himself except to assure her that her suggestion would be considered.
UPA allies Trinamul Congress and Nationalist Congress Party have already declared that the Congress should first declare its candidate, which would enable them to make up their minds. The Left parties have echoed similar views. Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, the front-runner among probable Congress candidates, has been rejected by the BJP.
With the Bharatiya Janata Party declaring that it would not support any Congress nominee, a showdown has become imminent.
It now boils down to the numbers game that has propelled the regional players to playing pivotal roles in electing the next President.
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