Pratibha Patil, who could become the country's first woman President, is the latest in a string of leaders who have come out of nowhere to play a dominating role in politics.
NEW DELHI: Pratibha Patil, who could become the country's first woman President, is the latest in a string of leaders who have come out of nowhere to play a dominating role in politics.
Patil surprised many by being chosen the UPA-Left's consensus candidate for the Presidential election but this is not the first instance where a leader who was not even in contention has emerged to play a key role.
President A P J Abdul Kalam too was a dark horse five years ago when his name was suggested for the high office at the last minute by the likes of TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.
This time, Union Ministers Shivraj Patil, Pranab Mukherjee and Sushil Kumar Shinde and senior Congress leader Karan Singh fell by the wayside with the Rajasthan Governor taking centrestage as the UPA's nominee at the last minute.
In 2002, Kalam's candidature was lapped up by parties supporting the NDA as efforts to reach consensus on a number of names, including then Maharashtra Governor P C Alexander and then Vice President Krishan Kant, did not succeed.
The Congress later came out in support of Kalam's candidature while the Left parties ploughed a lonely furrow by fielding Lakshmi Sehgal.
The 'pioneer' among dark horses was V V Giri, who contested the Presidential poll in 1969 as an independent at Indira Gandhi's bidding and vanquished the Congress candidate, Neelam Sanjiva Reddy.
In a way, Manmohan Singh too was a dark horse when he was made Prime Minister in May 2004 by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who declined the post and nominated the economist-turned-politician as head of the government.
Singh also became Finance Minister way back in mid-1991 in a similar fashion. He virtually came out of nowhere at a time when the Indian economy was in the doldrums and gold reserves had been mortgaged to tide over a foreign exchange crunch.
Reports had it that Singh got the job as then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao's efforts to rope in another renowned economist, I G Patel, did not fructify.
The story of Narasimha Rao is no different. In 1991, he was not contesting the general election due to ill health and had almost packed his bags to go back to Hyderabad.
But the sudden assassination of Rajiv Gandhi changed the situation and Rao became Prime Minister. Sharad Pawar's challenge for the leadership collapsed.
H D Deve Gowda, who became Prime Minister in 1996, was also a dark horse as was his successor I K Gujral.
With V P Singh declining to lead the United Front government and the CPI-M ruling out a proposal to make Jyoti Basu the Prime Minister, Gowda emerged as the coalition's surprise choice and the Karnataka Chief Minister, who always projected himself as a 'humble farmer', moved to Delhi.
Gujral was not even involved in negotiations between the United Front and the Congress in the backdrop of the pulling down of the Gowda government by then Congress chief Sitaram Kesri, but pulls and counter-pulls in the Front made him the compromise candidate for South Block.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}