The Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to put up a fight against the United Progressive Alliance's candidate for the President, Mr Pranab Mukherjee. A meeting of the top leaders of the party has decided to consult all non-Congress parties for seeking the possibility of a contest to the top job of the country.
The BJP leadership has contacted all Chief Ministers of the party on the issue. They, particularly the Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, are not in favour of supporting a Congress candidate, sources in the party said.
A meeting of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will be held here on Sunday. The meeting is likely to discuss various views on the issue and take a final call after further deliberations with other parties, including the Trinamool Congress. “We will contact all non-Congress parties. The NDA will take a decision, which is suitable in this political atmosphere,” a senior BJP functionary said.
The mood in the party is that since the UPA is divided on the issue, the NDA should try to take advantage of the situation. BJP MP Mr Ram Jethmalani has stated that he would like to fight against Mr Mukherjee as he failed to take any move to bring back the black money as the Finance Minister.
The BJP is also learnt to have discussed the possibility of avoiding a contest if the Vice-President's post is offered to the Opposition. The NDA working Chairman, Mr L. K. Advani, had earlier ruled out chances of any such “arrangement” with the UPA.
The Congress has already approached the BJP and the NDA partners seeking support for Mr Pranab Mukherjee. A section of the Janata Dal (U), the NDA's second largest partner, believes that since Mr Mukherjee is the candidate there is hardly any scope left for a contest.
However, sources indicated that names of the former President, Mr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, and the former Lok Sabha Speaker, Mr P.A. Sangma, are being considered by the NDA leaders for the President's post.