Even as mystery prevailed over who would be the candidates for the upcoming presidential polls in July from both the Treasury and Opposition camps, the BJP said it was comfortably ahead by around 1,15, 720 votes in the contest. Senior sources in the party also said the Opposition and specifically Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s move to emphasise its alliance with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has led to a situation where both factions of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) would, in all likelihood, support the NDA’s candidate.
“The entire electoral college for the presidential polls is around 10,98,882 votes, out of which NDA and its current constituents account for 5,32,019 votes, which is short of the magic number, but we are in talks with several parties, and as of now are comfortably ahead by around 1,15,720 votes,” said a top party leader. Support had definitely come in from the YSR Congress party, and the BJP was hoping the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and along with both factions of the AIADMK would support it.
‘Political rivalry’
Party president Amit Shah’s recent three-day tour of Telangana led to a sharp exchange of public statements between him and Chief Minister and TRS chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao, but the BJP said it would not matter in the case of presidential polls. “What happened during the trip is regular political rivalry. It will not affect the question of support for a particular candidate for president,” said a senior leader of the party.
“As far as the AIADMK is concerned, the Opposition unity seems to have no space for them because of the presence of the DMK as an important ally of the Congress, which helps us,” said the leader.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami and former CM and head of the dissident faction O. Panneerselvam had met PM Narendra Modi this month.
