Pratibhatai reaches out to friends, foes

NEW DELHI: The joint UPA-Left Presidential candidate Pratibha Patil maybe have relatively unknown in Delhi compared to rival Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, but the soft spoken 72-year-old woman from Jalgaon is exhibiting a great deal of political competence as she goes about winning friends and influencing foes.

Showing some deft political footwork Pratibhatai spent a busy day on Sunday in the Capital calling on home minister Shivraj Patil, HRD minister Arjun Singh, veteran Congress leader Karan Singh and former prime minister VP Singh. She has also put in a request for an appointment with former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Leader of the Opposition LK Advani.

She had a long telephonic conversation with external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee before he left for Indonesia. Arjun Singh promised total support, however Karan Singh still appeared to be smarting from being pipped to the post. Patil calmly heard her out but complained bitterly about the “veto” exercised by Left parties.

Meanwhile, NDA leaders are meeting at Vajpayee’s residence on Monday where they are expected to formally announce their support for Shekhawat.

Leaders of the still to be formed Third Front will meet in Chennai on Monday to decide their course of action. The Third Front may put up its own candidate and efforts are on to persuade former J&K chief minister Farooq Abdullah.