Sonia Gandhi meets CPI's Raja to discuss Prez polls
The presidential election has to be held before July 24, when President Pranab Mukherjee's term ends.
New Delhi: As part of the Opposition parties’ consultations on fielding a common candidate for the presidential poll, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday met CPI MP D. Raja. In the past few days, Mrs Gandhi had held a series of meeting with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury., among others, as part of consultations for forthcoming presidential polls.
The presidential election has to be held before July 24, when President Pranab Mukherjee’s term ends.
At the meeting which lasted about 30 minutes, Mrs Gandhi and Mr Raja agreed to the possibility of fielding a candidate acceptable to all secular Opposition parties, sources said.
The two leaders also discussed the prevailing political situation, while expressing concern over growing intolerance and its impact on the people. The Congress has said it would take a “conscious, concerted and balanced call” on a joint Opposition presidential candidate after consultation with all Opposition leaders.
After the BJP’s spectacular win in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the Opposition parties can put up a strong fight against the NDA candidate only if they come together on a common platform.
In the last three years, there have been three major upsets for the BJP, which include the states of Bihar, Delhi and Punjab. Apart from this, the BJP has governments on its own in 13 states. It has even made inroads in the north-eastern states like Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.
After the debacle in Uttar Pradesh there was also talk that if a Bihar-like grand alliance was in place the BJP would not have won. At the moment all the Opposition parties are keeping their cards close to their chest but sources indicate a joint candidate is a real possibility.