Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday spoke to Mamata Banerjee and some other Opposition leaders regarding the President’s election, seeking to show an outreach towards building a consensus.
The move on a day when 17 Opposition parties, on invitation of Mamata Banerjee, got together to put up a joint candidate against the government’s nominee, was seen as a mere political posturing.
Sources in the BJP said Rajnath spoke to Mamata Banerjee, Congress’s Mallikarjun Kharge, Biju Janata Dal chief Naveen Patnaik, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and some other leaders over phone on the President’s election scheduled for next month.
Trinamul sources said that when Rajnath called Mamata, she asked him if the BJP had finalised its candidate. “Rajnath called Mamata and said that he wanted to meet and talk over the President’s election. To this Mamata asked whether the BJP had finalised its candidate and Rajnath replied ‘not yet’,” said one Trinamul leader aware of the telephone conversation. “Mamata told Rajnath, ‘what was there to talk when they had not finalised the candidate?’,” the leader said.
Of the leaders Rajnath spoke to on Wednesday, the BJP is banking on BJD leader Naveen Patnaik to back the government, given his past record. The BJD was not part of the Opposition meeting on Wednesday.
The BJP has authorised Rajnath and party chief J.P. Nadda to hold talks with not only ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners but also the wider Opposition and Independent members for electing the next President.
Sources in the BJP were tight-lipped about the details of the outreach, saying it was just preliminary effort to build a consensus over the name of the next President.
Asked what the outreach to Mamata meant when the Trinamul chief herself was taking the lead to bring all the Opposition parties on one platform to put up a strong challenge to the government’s effort to install a President of its choice, one party general secretary refrained from a direct reply. “We on our part will speak to all the leaders to build a consensus,” the leader said.
The prospect of the ruling and the Opposition sides agreeing for a consensus candidate is out of question since the Opposition is determined for a fight.
Other party leaders said that it was a “routine exercise”, aimed to get a “sense of what was transpiring in the Opposition camp”. Along with Nadda, Rajnath has been picked by the party to exploit his “good rapport" with leaders across the political divide.
The BJP leaders said that after the outreach over telephone, Nadda and Rajnath could also call on some of the key Opposition leaders once the candidate is finalised.
The BJP has not yet decided or decided but not disclosed the name of its candidate for the next President. Party insiders said that the disclosure should come only after getting a sense who the Opposition plans to field.
“The name will also have to be discussed with the NDA partners,” one BJP leader said.
The BJP managers feel that they don’t see any challenge to their Presidential nominee, since they are certain of no unity in Opposition ranks.
