Congress president Sonia Gandhi has spoken to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav and Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav on the phone to urge them to join in an Opposition move to field common candidates for the upcoming presidential and vice-presidential elections, party sources said here on Wednesday.
Simultaneously, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, these sources said, had sounded out SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) boss Sharad Pawar and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on the subject. The last two named have already been spoken to by Ms. Gandhi as well. She has also been in touch with JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, CPI leader D. Raja and Biju Janata Dal leader Navin Patnaik.
The Gandhis will shortly meet Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Bannerjee and DMK leader M.K. Stalin soon, the sources said. Ms Gandhi is also scheduled to meet Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati soon.
The Congress president had taken the initiative to bring all secular parties on one platform to float a consensus candidate for the presidential polls after she met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar last month. Now her son, Mr. Gandhi, is gradually being drawn into these efforts. Party sources said she had taken the lead as she still carried more weight than anyone else with the leaders of other political parties.
Ms. Gandhi has also been talking to senior colleagues within the Congress on possible names, but no meeting has yet taken place. That, a party leader said, will probably take place after she has finished her preliminary talks with other Opposition leaders. “Opposition parties are together building a consensus on a common name for both the posts in the national interest,” party sources said. “Once this process is over, a structured meeting, if needed, will take place.”
