Though the BJP-led coalition enjoys the support of more than 500 members in the 785-member collegium for the Vice-President election, the Opposition on Tuesday decided to field the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi as its candidate for the post.
The Opposition’s attempt is to claim an edge in the contest as the BJP is yet to come up with a name for the post. The 17 parties could not pre-empt the BJP’s game plan for the Presidential election.
The Opposition lost the support of JD(U) in the Presidential polls. However, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav participated in the Opposition parties’ meeting on Tuesday along with other 17 parties. The Opposition may also reach out to the AIADMK, BJD and the YSRCP who had supported the BJP’s candidate for the post of President.
Announcing the decision to field Gandhi, Congress President Sonia Gandhi said the Opposition parties had consulted Gopalkrishna Gandhi. “The leaders of 18 opposition parties got together to decide on the Vice-Presidential candidate. All of them spoke in support of Gopal Gandhi and have decided to field him as a joint candidate. We spoke to him, after which he has agreed to be the joint opposition candidate,” she said. “He asked for 10-15 minutes to consider (the offer) after which he was again called on the telephone and he agreed to be the candidate for Vice-President of India. He actually expressed his gratitude to all the leaders who met here to decide on his candidature,” Sonia Gandhi added.
Gopalkrishna Gandhi was the Left parties’ choice for the Presidential polls too. But the name could not evolve as a consensus as the Congress felt that Meira Kumar will be a better candidate against BJP’s Ramnath Kovind. For the Vice-Presidential elections, the Congress apparently communicated to other parties that it is willing to accept a nominee from outside the Congress. Gopalkrishna Gandhi’s name was acceptable to Trinamool Congress too.
The meeting of the Opposition parties took a decision within 15 minutes. Senior leaders such as Ghulam Nabi Azad and Sitaram Yechury contacted Gopalkrishna Gandhi to convey him the decision. “There can be no better candidate than Gopalkrishna Gandhi for the post of Vice President of India. We hope he will be elected unanimously,” Yechury said.
Trinamool Congress leader in Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien proposed Gopalkrishna Gandhi’s name in the meeting and it was supported by BSP’s Satish Misra, Yechury and then leaders of other parties. “He wanted to ensure that all parties have endorsed him name and he was graceful to have accepted our request,” O’Brien said.
The Vice-Presidential election will take place on August 5 and votes will be counted the same evening, according to a notification from the Election Commission. The Secretary General of Rajya Sabha is the returning officer for the polls.
The parties also briefly discussed the floor strategy for the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament. The raids against RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav was also discussed by the leaders.