Janjivan Bureau / New Delhi : The 20 minuts meeting between Congress President Sonia Gandhi and senior BJP leaders and Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Venkaiah Naidu end without any conclusion for the Presidential elections.
According to sources Rajnath Singh and Venkaiah Naidu instead of suggesting names they have decided upon asked Congress in case they have someone in mind. Apparently, Sonia Gandhi reverse the questions to BJP leaders, and said that she expected to come up with names. On this, Rajnath and Venkaiah told Sonia Gandhi that once they finalise the names they would like to see the support of the Congress.
Sonia Gandhi told BJP leaders that they too have not come to any conclusion on a candidate yet. Ghulam Nabi Azad told to journalists that it is not mandatory that Opposition be told the name but in this case no proper discussion could take place. Sources said that when Ghulam Nabi Azad pressed the BJP leaders if they have decided on a set of probable candidates, Rajnath Singh said the party hasn’t reached that stage.
Later, Azad said that when consensus was being built for APJ Abdul Kalam, then NDA had shared the name with them on which they had supported BJP’s candidate. The meeting was also attended by PAC Chief Mallikarjun Kharge. Subsequently Rajnath Singh and Venkaiah Naidu met Sitaram Yechury to take suggestions. The leaders also met Murli Manohar Joshi and L K Advani for consultations.
Speaking to reporters after the 30-minute meeting held at the CPI(M) head office in New Delhi, Mr Yechury reiterated his party’s stand that a person with “impeccable secular credentials” should be the next president.
The CPI(M) leader said the opposition parties would wait till the government completed the round of discussions with them to take a call on their nominee for the July 17 presidential election.
According to sources in the CPI(M), the Left party wanted to know from the ministers, who are part of a committee the BJP has floated to evolve consensus on the presidential nominee, if former Delhi Metro chief E Sreedharan was the NDA’s candidate, as reported by a website.
The ministers, the sources said, denied the report and told Mr Yechury that the government was yet to finalise any name.
A senior CPI(M) leader wondered if the RSS-BJP combine would let go the opportunity to install a president of their choice since “they are so close to” electing one to the post.
“They told us they want our support. We said fine, tell us the bases for the support, who is the candidate. But that they did not convey… They will take some time to do that,” Mr Yechury told reporters after the meeting.
CPI(M) Politburo members Prakash Karat and Brinda Karat also attended the meeting.
Mr Yechury said it was required for the government to suggest names for arriving at a consensus.
With no name proposed by the government, Mr Yechury said, the parleys looked “more like a public relation exercise” of meeting opposition parties.
“Since the government is doing it, we welcomed them in our office. Very good, they came here,” he said.
Countering the opinion that the opposition should support the ruling alliance’s candidate since it has the people’s mandate, Mr Yechury said the NDA had polled 39 per cent votes during the 2014 general polls as against 61 per cent of the opposition.
“So, a candidate of the opposition is the one who has the mandate. So, the government should also consider that aspect,” he said.
Mr Yechury insisted the Centre should also be open to considering the names suggested by the opposition if it made any proposal.
