Dissociating itself from any move by former Lok Sabha Speaker P.A. Sangma to challenge Pranab Mukherjee’s election as the President in the Supreme Court, the BJP on Wednesday said any such decision would be in Mr Sangma’s individual capacity.
The party, which had backed Mr Sangma’s candidature against Mr Mukherjee, said it has already welcomed Mr Mukherjee as the 13th President of the country. Meanwhile, senior BJP leaders met in the evening to discuss the vice-presidential polls issue and the situation in Assam where clashes between minority immigrants and Bodo tribals in lower Assam have claimed at least 40 lives.
BJP-led NDA has fielded senior leader Jaswant Singh against UPA’s Hamid Ansari. These leaders also discussed the Karnataka issue where some of the party MLAs had voted in favour of Mr Mukherjee.
“We would like to make it clear if Mr Sangma takes such a step, then it will be his personal choice. As far as BJP and NDA is concerned, post-election we have welcomed the election of the President of India and we would not like to link this to the party or to the NDA,” BJP national spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.
The BJP also made it clear that “it would be his (Sangma’s) own propriety as a candidate or an individual” to challenge Mr Mukherjee’s nomination and the party was not discussing this at all.
When asked specifically if the party had ended its concerns on the propriety of Mr Mukherjee’s nomination, Mr Rudy said, “I think so. It is obvious. We are all a part of this Constitution...It’s over (for us).”
Mr Sangma, who lost the presidential election to Mr Mukherjee, has been contemplating filing an election petition challenging Mr Mukherjee’s nomination.
When asked about BJP leader Satya Pal Jain being part of Mr Sangma’s legal team, Mr Rudy said “the party cannot ask anyone to dissociate and it would be in his personal capacity.”