Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat will be a good choice for President to make India a 'Hindu Rashtra', Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said. "It is the highest post in the country. Somebody with a clean image should occupy it. We have heard Mohan Bhagwat's name is being discussed for President. "If India has to be made a 'Hindu Rashtra', Bhagwat will be a good choice for President. But the decision (to support his candidature) will be taken by Uddhavji," he told reporters.
Asked if he will attend the dinner hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the strategy for the Presidential polls, Raut parried a direct reply, saying sumptuous food is cooked at "Matoshree" (Uddhav Thackeray's residence in Mumbai) as well.
"In the last two Presidential polls, Balasaheb (Thackeray) had gone against the flow and done what was in the interest of the nation. Even then, the Presidential candidates had come to 'Matoshree' to discuss the elections," the Sena leader said.
"Those who want votes can come to 'Matoshree'. We are ready for a dialogue. Sumptuous food is cooked at 'Matoshree' as well," Raut said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is constantly at loggerheads with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), made a surprising comment when she said she would not mind if LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj or Sumitra Mahajan became the president.
The statement came during a 45-minute TV interview aired by a Bengali channel on Thursday night. Asked why the Trinamool Congress MP in Manipur was supporting the BJP government, she said: “These things happen in the north-eastern states. Money decides politics out there. I don’t even know this man.”
According to a report published in Zee News, senior BJP leader and former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani is the frontrunner to become the next President of India. The report claims that PM Modi proposed his mentor's name during a meeting in Somnath, Gujarat. Modi reportedly said that electing Advani as the President will be akin to giving 'guru dakshina' to the senior leader, who was instrumental in making BJP a force in national politics. BJP President Amit Shah was also present at the meeting.
The presidential election will take place in July this year when Pranab Mukherjee's five-year term comes to an end. It will be a sort of a wheel coming full circle for Advani as the veteran leader was edged out by Narendra Modi to become the PM candidate in the run-up to the 2014 election. With massive mandates in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, BJP is comfortably placed now to ensure that the candidate nominated by them will become the next president.
With inputs from PTI and ANI
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