His bid for Presidency complicates matters for daughter, a Union Minister; Mamata facing revolt in party
The United Progressive Alliance’s presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee will have to face a contest now that the former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno Sangma has resigned from the Nationalist Congress Party, enabling himself to make a bid to be the next incumbent of Rashtrapati Bhavan without “embarrassing” his party.
Mr. Sangma’s resignation, addressed to NCP president and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar has been accepted, freeing him from the pressure of his party not to file his nomination and to support Mr. Mukherjee’s candidature instead.
In a press note, Mr. Sangma has reiterated that the Tribal Forum of India nominated him for election to the office of President, a nomination that has been endorsed by the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Biju Janata Dal. He also claims that he has “received promises of support from senior leaders of non-Congress parties, including those in the National Democratic Alliance.”
With the former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s first choice for First Citizen, announcing on Tuesday that he did not wish to take a second shot for the keys of Rashtrapati Bhavan, Mr. Sangma’s chances of securing BJP support have brightened. Of the BJP’s allies in the NDA, the Shiv Sena has already declared it will back Mr. Mukherjee; the Janata Dal-United, currently engaged in a war of words with the BJP and the RSS, party sources say, is not very keen on Mr. Sangma; Shiromani Akali Dal chief Parkash Singh Badal has stated publicly his party will go with the NDA.
Troubled history
Mr. Sangma telephoned West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Saturday to seek her support, even though the two share a troubled history: in January 2004, Mr. Sangma sought to split the NCP after Mr. Pawar became close to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, but when he lost the battle for the NCP election symbol, he merged his faction with the Trinamool. However, in February 2006, he was re-elected an NCP candidate after he quit the Trinamool. Now, with Ms. Banerjee’s bid to prop up Mr. Kalam having failed, and her opposition to Mr. Mukherjee’s candidature still unwavering, Mr. Sangma’s overtures to her might make some impact.
But Mr. Sangma’s bid for the presidency has complicated matters for his daughter, Agatha Sangma, who now faces the prospect of being turfed off the Union Council of Ministers — she is MoS for Rural Development — if she campaigns for her father, a senior NCP leader indicated. “If she campaigns, we will have no option but to show her the door,” he said shortly after Mr. Sangma resigned from the party, a day ahead of a meeting of the NCP Parliamentary Board. The Congress, however, chose not to comment on the matter, with party spokesman Rashid Alvi saying, “Congress is not going to advise the NCP on what to do about Agatha.”
Personal issue, says son
Simultaneously, Mr. Sangma’s son and Leader of the Opposition in the Meghalaya Assembly Conrad K. Sangma told journalists that his father’s resignation from the NCP was a “personal” issue and would therefore “not have any impact on his membership of the NCP in Meghalaya.”
Meanwhile, Ms. Banerjee is facing a revolt in her party: dissident MP Kabir Suman has been in touch with Mr Mukherjee, and the Congress, party sources said, is in touch with other disgruntled Trinamool MPs and MLAs. So much so the Trinamool accused the Congress of attempting to split her party. “What Pranab has done is unethical... He is trying to break Trinamool,” State Minister and Trinamool leader Subrata Mukherjee said, adding, “Both Pranab and Suman are masters of unethical politics.”
In the UPA camp, members are busy working on the Mukherjee campaign: Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi met jailed YSR Congress chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy on Tuesday to seek his party’s support for the UPA nominee.
Keywords: Sangma resignation, NCP, Presidential election
Mr Sangma is a soft spoken gentle person, having remained Parliament Speaker on two counts,deserves good standing in the India's political set-up of the country.More over he is a seasoned,cultured & deft handler by virtue of his long experience as two time Parliament Speaker !Wish him the best of luck to be the next President of India ;though an uphill task, keeping in view the number game & the shrewd opposition commune from the ruling class!
Mr. Sangma is a leader with noble qualities such as honesty integrity and fairplay
both in private and public life. The fact that he was a successful president of the
Lok Sabha is ample proof of those qualities described here. Now that Dr. Kalam
does not wish to be sponsored as a nominee for the presidentship the Opposition
Parties should without hesitation sponsor Sangma as their candidate for the
presidentship. There is nothing wrong in Sangma being considered as a candidate
hailing from the tribal belt while we could use liberally such terms as minorities
scheduled castes etc. while referring to other communities. Another additional
factor in favour of Mr. Sangma is by nominating him as a candidate for
presidentship we will be doing justice to the eastern part of our country which has
not been given adequate attention in matters of development of that region.
Justice and fairplay demands his nomination as President by the opposition
parties.
MrPAsangma has every right to contest in presidential election as a representative of tribals.this is democracy.In the end electorate will decide who is president and who is not.One thing is clear from this drama - NDA is not united.
When nothing works out in India, caste factor plays a vital role to get anything either votes/reservations; a seat/berth in BTECH/MBBS, or a berth in staten assembly or parliament and even Rastrapathi Bhavan. India is great but majority of the Indian politicians make India fall in international market due to their caste politics.
Ninad, I acknowledge your point but my comment was restricted to Presidential race only where only PA Sangma is playing these tricks. And also if everyone is playing petty politics then that doesn't restrict our right to target and comment on selected few.
So, it is Pranab Vs Purno or the East Vs North East. If NDA and the Left parties decides to support Purno, it would turn out to be good fight. With Kalam's denial it would be interesting to see what stand TMC takes - abstain or support Pranab. If TMC decides to support Purno, then the race to Raisina would turn out to be a 100M dash definitely.
Abhishek Garg, everyone is playing petty politics, so why blame Mr Sangma? As a nation we should be disappointed at the failure to come up with fresh and bold candidates rather than the line of usual suspects.
The NCP would not have lost anything by supporting the candidature of PA Sangma. Even though the election of Pranab seems more likely - Pawar could have done this more gracefully - by supporting Pranab - while fully knowing that he is a losing candidate. By doing what he did - Pawar reflects the fact that NCP is run like his personal fiefdom.
What an irony!! The Presedent should not be selected based on his tribe. The chair a higher cause.
I am agree about the opinin of Miss vijayalakshmi.Now India is in a disaster stage.Economy is not safer for investment.Noone talking about the growth & prosperity of the people.Even RBI is not bringing concrete steps for the betterment of the economy.If the govt will not do anything definitely we youngsters will loss our jobs.
This is the best ever decision Mr Sangma has taken in his life. There was no prestige/respect for him in NCP. This way he will be able to find independent standing for himself in political space.
Mr. Purno Sangma may be unhappy with his party and his decision to quit the party may be to protect his voters' constituency. But does he really represent the tribal population of the country? Answer is an emphatic NO. Further, his claim that because of party’s rejection of his candidature for the Presidential election, the country’s tribal people, is also not based on facts. Even after endorsement of his candidature by AIADMK and BJD, he was not in a winning position because he had not got any sizeable support of other parties. Now there is a possibility of NDA endorsing his candidature but he will be a losing candidate.
Sangma has every right to contest the Presidential elections, There is a tendency in
our country for people to look down at those who look different or who represent
tribals. India is made up of tribals and because we speak english it doesn't make us
white or European. Sangma has the backing of powerful leaders like Naveen Patnaik
and Ms. Jayalalitha, so I don't see why he should give up the aspiration for this
prestigious post. No one complains of Modi already staking claim on the number
one post.Outside of Gujerat I don't hear any of the minority groups singing his
praises This even before we have entered the year and time of the new elections..So
much can happen in a year so why all this fuss about new Prime Minister. It is
obvious every politician gets into power and spends most of his time campaigning
for the next election and the pressing needs of the people are left unattended or ship
shoddily carried out. Development by contaminating land, ocean and rivers is NOT
DEVELOPMENT!
What has Mr. Sangma done to the tribals so far in this country? He is playing the tribal card now...One wonders what Mr.Sangma (or for that matter anyone) would be able to do for tribal after becoming President...
This is the true face of Congress party and its leaders. Their actions are centred around vote politics, corruption and black money. Pranab Mukherjee concealed the names of the black money a/c holders. Sonia Gandhi family must be on top of the black money list. Now, Pranab is rewarded by Sonia by nominating Pranab for President post. The people who trusted Congress and voted for them, have been cheated a number of times and people need to learn their lessons re Congress and its leaders.
Please stop playing petty politics in the name of tribals. We all know there are other more pressing assistance which tribals need than not so meaningful and self serving demand of the aspirations of the 'tribals'of the country to Raisina Hill.
Sangma must be inching closer to NDA. He is using Presenditial election as a tool to chart his next political moves
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