Neither the ruling NDA government nor the Opposition that has decided to field a common candidate in the upcoming presidential polls are revealing the names of their respective candidates as yet.
Despite this, there is frenzied political activity in the NDA camp to shore up as much support from other parties, including recalcitrant allies like the Shiv Sena. The Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna on Wednesday said that a meeting between Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and BJP president Amit Shah had been scheduled for Sunday morning, when the latter is expected to be in Mumbai.
Significantly, the BJP, in a press release detailing Mr. Shah’s itinerary in Mumbai made no mention of the meeting. “It is likely the meeting will take place and presidential polls will be discussed, but that is not something that will be put down in the party president’s declared itinerary,” was all a senior general secretary of the BJP was prepared to say.
Of all the NDA partners, the Shiv Sena has been termed most likely to break ranks over the presidential polls as its relationship with the BJP in the State is hardly rosy.
The BJP has been hard at work to win over all possible parties to its side for the presidential polls in the event of this happening.
After scheduling meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury for Friday morning, party sources confirmed that Information and Broadcasting Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu spoke to Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on the phone on Wednesday.
Mr. Naidu also spoke to Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader Anbumani Ramadoss and N. Rangasamy of the NR Congress of Puducherry.
Mr. Shah is keeping a close eye on the polls as party leaders feel that it is the “best opportunity” to elect a BJP leader as the President of India, a hitherto elusive honour.
Keeping flock together
“Every evening, Mr. Shah sits with Union Ministers Ananth Kumar and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, along with BJP general secretary Bhupendra Yadav, to carefully scrutinise data from the Assemblies. The effort is not only to make sure that our flock is in order but also to depute people in our State units to speak to independent MLAs and those parties that are yet undecided,” said a senior office-bearer in the party.
