Senior Union Ministers and BJP leaders Rajnath Singh and M Venkaiah Naidu will meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday in connection with the Presidential elections.
The meetings are part of the consultation process initiated by the ruling BJP through a committee comprising Home Minister Singh, Urban Development Minister Naidu and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. The committee was appointed by BJP president Amit Shah on June 12 to hold talks with Opposition parties and allies in a bid to select a consensus candidate for the poll.
Although the BJP is busy trying to evolve a consensus, the composition of the electoral college for the President is such that the ruling party is certain to get a candidate of its choice elected to the top post. The Opposition is ready for a symbolic fight, but if the BJP comes up with a name that is acceptable to a majority of the parties, there may not be an election at all. If there are divergent views on the choice of candidate by the BJP, then the election is scheduled to take place on July 17.
It is estimated that in the absence of a consensus, the NDA candidate can file nomination by June 23; the date is between the return of Jaitley from his travels abroad (June 17) and the departure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US, on June 24.
The BJP’s core group met on Wednesday, when the PM was briefed by Venkaiah and Rajnath about the steps being taken to evolve a consensus candidate. Venkaiah has reportedly already spoken with Praful Patel (NCP) and Satish Chandra Misra (BSP) in this regard.
Patel and Misra, who are expected to meet the panel shortly, are said to have assured Venkaiah their parties would take a call on a candidate after talks with the BJP panel. The notification for the July 17 poll was issued on Wednesday, beginning the nomination process. The last date for filing papers is June 28.
After prolonged silence on the issue, Shah constituted the three-member committee for consultations with NDA allies and Opposition on the issue.
The President is chosen by the elected members of both Houses of Parliament and Assemblies of States and Union Territories.
Number crunchingEach MP carries a weight of 708 votes while the value of an MLA’s vote varies in line with the population of the State that he/she represents. The total pool is about 10.99 lakh votes, with nearly half coming from the 4,120 MLAs and the other half from 776 MPs of both Houses.
With its victory in UP and additional seats won in other States, the BJP and its allies now hold over 47.5 per cent of the entire pool. The YSR Congress Party has nearly 2 per cent and the TRS, 1.6 per cent — these have been added to the BJP’s kitty.
Favourable noises have also been heard from the AIADMK, which holds about 5.4 per cent of the value of votes.