New Delhi: After the presidential elections, the Opposition parties are now trying to field a common candidate for the post of vice-president and will meet on July 11 to decide on a name. Interestingly, several of the names doing the rounds had been floated earlier for the presidential polls — such as former West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi and Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s grandson Prakash Ambedkar.
While the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United), that had broken ranks with the Opposition and backed the NDA’s presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, has said it will attend the meeting, doubts are being raised as there have been fresh raids on RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members, which have put a questionmark over the Grand Alliance in Bihar.
Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad are coordinating the Opposition meeting and have started calling up the leaders of all 17 parties who had joined hands for the presidential election.
The Opposition parties, including the Congress, Left parties, Trinamul Congress, SP, BSP, RJD and JD(U), had come together to field a common presidential candidate to counter the Narendra Modi government. However, before the name of former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar was announced, the JD(U) had broken away and decided to back Mr Kovind.
Though the reason given by Mr Kumar was that he had high regard for Mr Kovind and as Bihar governor had shared excellent working relations with him, sources said he was sending a message to the Congress to stop acting like a “big brother” and accommodate smaller parties.
Sources in the BJP have, however, been claiming that Mr Kumar was on his way back to the NDA.
JD(U) sources said the Congress had sent emissaries to placate Mr Kumar, who had taken umbrage at comments made against the Bihar CM by some Congress leaders, including Ghulam Nabi Azad. Bihar education minister Ashok Choudhary, who met Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi last week, has spoken with senior leaders, including Mr Kumar, and assured him that no further comments would be made against his party or him.
