NEW DELHI, 11 June — The government yesterday announced that nuclear scientist A.P.J. Abdul Kalam would be its candidate for the presidential elections scheduled in July. Kalam is regarded as the father of the Indian atomic program and was the man behind India’s nuclear tests in 1998.
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee yesterday met main opposition Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi and proposed Kalam’s name. During the meeting, Vajpayee said the government has made up its mind to field Kalam for the top post, senior Congress leader Manmohan Singh, who was also present, told reporters.
Singh said Sonia told Vajpayee that she would hold consultations with her party colleagues and others on the issue.
When Sonia asked the prime minister whether Kalam’s name for the post was final as the government had earlier proposed the candidatures of Vice President Krishan Kant and Maharashtra Governor P.C .Alexander, Vajpayee indicated that Kalam’s choice was final, Singh said.
Sonia told Vajpayee that he had given a new name and “we will let the government know our views after consulting party leaders.” Asked about the Congress choice for the post, Singh said, “We have so far said President K.R. Narayanan is our preferred candidate but now we have been given a new name and we have to reflect on that.”
The term of Narayanan ends on July 24 and the 12th presidential elections will be held on July 15. Besides Sonia and Singh, Home Minister L.K. Advani was also present at the meeting.
However, a key ally of the ruling BJP insisted that the country’s next president be chosen by consensus, putting a question mark on the BJP’s bid to push its own nominee for the job.
After skipping the crucial meeting of the National Democratic alliance (NDA) in New Delhi, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu yesterday maintained his stand for evolving a consensus on the presidential candidate while Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan said “there would be consensus not only with the TDP but also with the opposition.” The efforts to evolve a consensus over the candidate are going on and the prime minister is in touch with all the NDA partners, the two leaders said in Hyderabad.
Earlier, in a rare show of opposition unity, Manmohan Singh, Amar Singh of the Samajwadi Party, Harkishen Singh Surjeet of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) and A.B. Bardhan of the Communist Party of India (CPI) met Narayanan on Sunday and urged him to enter the contest.
Congress spokesman Jaipal Reddy said the opposition was prompted to take this step because NDA interlocutors had said on Saturday that Alexander was the ruling combines’ candidate.
Though the opposition has not formally announced that Narayanan will contest, it seems that the leaders would not have gone this far without getting the go-ahead from Narayanan. Meanwhile, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Laloo Prasad Yadav also spoke in support of a second term for Narayanan.
