Won't back saffron presidential candidate: Congress

New Delhi: A day before the crucial meeting between Congress president Sonia Gandhi and the BJP ministerial panel on presidential elections, the Congress indicated Thursday it will not support the candidature of Jharkhand governor Draupadi Murmu, who is said to be the frontrunner as NDA presidential candidate. BJP president Amit Shah is due to meet Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray Sunday to try and win over the miffed ally.

Hectic parleys have begun between the BJP and the Opposition parties to arrive at a consensus, with Mr Shah forming a team of three ministers to hold talks with a range of Opposition leaders. The members of this team are finance minister Arun Jaitley, home minister Rajnath Singh and I&B minister M. Venkaiah Naidu.

Mr Naidu spoke to NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday. Mr Pawar said he would be in New Delhi in the next couple of days for further talks.

BJP sources said Mr Shah will meet Mr Thackeray at his “Matoshri” residence in Mumbai on Sunday, with the coming presidential election being the main subject of discussion. The BJP president will be on a three-day visit to Mumbai to celebrate the Modi government’s three years in office. The Shiv Sena has been a vocal critic of the BJP, and specially over the recent farmers’ issues, and has played hardball with the BJP. Mr Thackeray has repeatedly said RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat should be made the next President, though Mr Bhagwat ruled out his candidature. The Opposition parties have tried to exploit this division in the NDA by approaching the Shiv Sena for support and even pitching the name of NCP chief Sharad Pawar as the Opposition presidential candidate.

Congress insiders say the party has “made up its mind” that it would not support any candidate with saffron leanings, and sources said the party was “not willing” to extend support to Jharkhand governor Draupadi Murmu, a former BJP MLA in Odisha, who has emerged as the frontrunner in the BJP camp for the presidency. Congress president Sonia Gandhi met senior leaders of the party a day before the crucial meeting with the BJP ministers on Friday. She met Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Lok Sabha leader Mallikarjun Kharge and her political secretary Ahmed Patel. Sources said the Congress would only agree to any candidate the government proposes after consulting all Opposition parties for the sake of unity. The Opposition leaders are likely to meet once again around June 20.

At this point, the Congress feels “it is incumbent on the ruling party to arrive at a consensus”, with a rider that “the person should have faith in the Constitution and uphold the idea of India”, and not have saffron leanings. Senior Congress spokesman Anand Sharma said the party had tried to bring about a consensus on every major issue. “But the picture is not yet clear on the issue of the presidential election,” he said, adding that it would be better if the government too understood the need for unanimity. “It will be good if there is a consensus. But I cannot say anything as of now,” he added.

A 17-party Opposition grouping has decided to field a joint candidate if no consensus emerges. There have been two meetings of the entire Opposition to shortlist a possible candidate. The Congress feels that at Friday’s meeting, the BJP will ask the Congress to support its candidate to “respect the mandate” of the people as it has 54 per cent of the votes in the electoral college, which could go up to 65 per cent if more parties come on board.

Apart from Ms Murmu, the names doing the rounds as probable NDA nominees include external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and social justice minister Thawar Chand Gehlot. The Opposition names include former West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi, JD(U)’s Sharad Yadav and former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar.