Mamata Banerjee playing a leading role in choosing a consensus presidential candidate
Seventeen representatives from 16 political parties in the opposition met today at the Constitution Club in New Delhi to come to a consensus regarding the candidate for the office of the President of India. The presidential election is scheduled for July 18, and the result for July 21.
According to sources, contrary to speculations, Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar is unwilling to put up his candidature.
Also as per sources , two names have been agreed upon after the face-to-face discussions: Gopalkrishna Gandhi, a Congress member who was formerly the governor of Bengal, and National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah,a former multiple-term chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. The latter is currently an MP in the Lok Sabha. The candidate to be put up by the opposition parties is most likely to be either of them.
Both of them, besides being widely acceptable, have another thing in common: a very good relation with Trinamool Congress Chairperson and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is leading the charge in bringing all the BJP-opposed parties on to a common understanding, and has been doing it for long.
If the opposition parties manage to put aside their differences and put fight together in the presidential election, whatever may be its result, it would certainly not bode well for the BJP for the next general election, which is scheduled for 2024, just two years away.
