Sources said the party brass would reveal the name of the ruling side's candidate only after the Opposition made up its mind
Even as hectic parleys are being held in the Opposition camp, there is a stoic silence over the issue of Presidential candidate in the ruling BJP.
Neither union ministers nor BJP leaders are spilling the beans over the strategy on the Presidential poll in the party. Sources said the party brass would reveal the name of the ruling side's candidate only after the Opposition made up its mind.
Amidst speculation over who could be the NDA's candidate, BJP president Amit Shah told a news channel on Sunday that a decision was yet to be taken on the NDA's candidate for the Presidential polls on July 19. "Even if I have a name on my mind, it has to be discussed within the party first," he said.
The ruling NDA has a clear edge over the Opposition, which has already begun the exercise of getting all anti-BJP parties together in efforts to put up a united candidate against the one chosen by the other side.
The only clear indication from the BJP side was that given that the NDA had an advantage over the Opposition, it would not lose the chance of ensuring that it had its candidate at Rashtrapati Bhavan. This ruled out BJP backing a second term for incumbent Pranab Mukherjee. Shah has rejected the suggestion of Shiv Sena to propose RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, who has ruled himself out of the race.
While the leadership maintained discretion over the issue, there have been murmurs over possible candidates. Admitting the decision would be taken at the highest level and would be kept under wraps till the last minute, party leaders are reluctant to make any guesses. Yet, names being speculated include Jharkhand governor Draupadi Murmu, a tribal, Lok Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, and Social Development Minister Thawarchand Gehlot.
However, party leaders said it could turn out to be a surprise candidate.
Meanwhile, the BJP is trying to get the support of as many parties as possible to ensure that its candidate makes it smoothly to the Presidential palace. The ruling NDA was running short of just 20,000 votes in the electoral college comprising MPs and MLAs, each of whom has a vote worth depending on the state. This gap was now likely to be made up by the support of YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh and two factions of the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu.
On the Opposition side, the names doing the rounds for presidential candidate included Gopal Krishna Gandhi, former Speaker Meira Kumar and eminent jurist Fali Nariman. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had floated the name of Pranab Mukherjee and his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee had extended support. Mukherjee, however, is understood to have sent signals that he would be ready only if he was a consensus candidate.
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