The stage is set for one of the bitterly fought Presidential elections tomorrow with UPA-Left nominee Pratibha Patil poised to have a smooth sailing.
NEW DELHI: The stage is set for one of the bitterly fought Presidential elections tomorrow with UPA-Left nominee Pratibha Patil poised to have a smooth sailing, as BJP-led NDA suffered a double blow on Wednesday with ally Trinamool Congress and Karnataka coalition partner JD(S) deciding to abstain.
The abstention by the two parties caused further embarrassment to Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, the NDA-backed 'Independent' candidate who is fighting a losing battle
As against this, the mood in the UPA-Left camp was one of jubilation over the news from Kolkata and Bangalore, with Parliamentary Affairs Minister P R Dasmunsi claiming an "unexpected" margin of victory for Pratibha Patil to succeed A P J Abdul Kalam.
While Patil failed to keep her tryst with her home state of Maharashtra today, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil of Congress and NCP respectively called on Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray to thank him for his party's support to Pratibha.
Shiv Sena's decision, breaking ranks with the BJP, its oldest ideological ally, was dubbed as a jolt by no less a person than senior BJP leader L K Advani, who however, insisted that the Opposition by its campaign succeeded in creating doubts in the minds of people about UPA's functioning.
While Shiv Sena's decision to support Patil was the first blow to the NDA, the Third Front's move to abstain was the second shock.
With the Third Front christened as the United National Progressive Alliance abstaining from the vote and parties like the JD-S and Trinamool Congress following suit, Dasmunsi said that in order to win a candidate has to secure some 4.8 lakh votes out of the total 10.98 lakh value votes.
In Kolkata, Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress decided to abstain from voting despite repeated requests from the BJP leadership.
The decision was taken unanimously at an urgent meeting, chaired by Banerjee.
Trinamool Congress has one Lok Sabha and three Rajya Sabha members and 30 MLAs in West Bengal assembly. Suspended MLA Sadhan Pande has already decided to support Pratibha Patil.
The BJP received another jolt when Deve Gowda-led JD(S) decided to abstain. The rebel faction, headed by M P Veerendra Kumar, however, said it would vote for Patil.
Kumar, who represents Kozhikode in Lok Sabha, said he along with five of his faction MLAs in Kerala and P G R Scindia, an MLA in Karnataka, would vote for Patil.
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