Prez poll will spring a surprise: Shahnawaz Hussain

PATNA: Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the independent candidate backed by the NDA, will emerge victorious in the presidential election, BJP leader Syed Shahnawaz Hussain said on Wednesday.
    
"I am not a psephologist like RJD president Lalu Prasad, who has announced that UPA candidate Pratibha Patil will win by a margin of 1.5 lakh votes. But I am sure that Shekhwat will spring a surprise," he told reporters here on his return from Bhagalpur where a meeting he was attending was disrupted by an inebriated RJD activist last night.
    
"Shekhawat's image will see him through and Patil, who was involved in a number of scandals and controversies, will lick the dust," Hussain, the president of BJP's minority cell, said.
    
"Shekhawat resigned from the primary membership of the BJP before becoming an independent candidate for the post of president. He has proved himself to be a very good vice-president and has the capability to become an outstanding president," the MP from Bhagalpur said.
    
Hussain flayed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for defending Patil and alleged his act had disappointed the country. He also claimed Congress President Sonia Gandhi and
UPA Ministers Lalu Prasad and Ramvilas Paswan owed an explanation to the nation as to why they opposed a second term for President A P J Abdul Kalam.