Race for Vice President's post begins

NEW DELHI: With the Vice Presidential poll scheduled for August 10, the race for the second highest Constitutional post has already begun with key UPA allies wanting a share of the cake.

UPA sources said the key southern ally DMK and Left parties have already indicated their desire for the post.

DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi had already denied having put any claim on the post.

There is also a thinking in the ruling coalition that thepost should go to a non-party person who is eminent in his own right and has the ability of taking everyone along given the fact that conducting the Rajya Sabha was no child's play.

The name of West Bengal Governor Gopal Gandhi is being talked in Congress circles. But the Left could have reservations on him in the wake of his statement on the Nandigram issue.
   
CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat has only recentlyremarked that there was no hard and fast rule that the post should go to the Left.

However, the Left parties have said that the post should go to a non-Congress candidate who is acceptable to everybody in the ruling coalition. The person should be relatively political and be aware of the functioning of Parliament andthe Constitution, according to Left sources.

The Left parties have informed the UPA that they could play a role to identify such a candidate, they said.
   
A section in the Congress feels that the post should rightfully go to the party as it cannot afford Presiding Officers of both Houses in the hands of allies.

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee belongs to CPI(M).