NEW DELHI, 19 June — Top leaders cut across party lines here yesterday to turn out in support of “Missile man” A.P.J. Abdul Kalam as he filed his nomination for the presidential election he is bound to win.
Kalam, certain to become the president next month as he has the support of virtually the entire political spectrum, filed two different sets of nominations with the returning officer at the Rajya Sabha secretariat here. But Kalam’s much-awaited interaction with the national and international media was postponed for today. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s ruling coalition and the main opposition Congress party of Sonia Gandhi filed the separate nomination papers.
As supporters cheered outside the Parliament, Vajpayee and Sonia led a veritable Who’s Who of politics as they accompanied Kalam to submit his documents to the returning officer for the July 15 election.
Senior Union ministers, including Home Minister L.K. Advani, Defense Minister George Fernandes and External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and chief ministers Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh), Mayawati (Uttar Pradesh) and Naveen Patnaik (Orissa) were present. Sonia came with an array of her top aides including her party’s Rajya Sabha leader Manmohan Singh, her deputy in the Lok Sabha, Shivraj Patil and Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker P.M. Sayeed and .
Samajwadi Party President Mulayam Singh Yadav and his party deputy Amar Singh too were present. There were smiles all around as the ruling coalition and the opposition showed none of their bitter rancor earlier this month when they failed to agree on a common presidential candidature until Kalam’s name was proposed.
Kalam, 70, widely recognized as the father of India’s ballistic missile program, is slated to become president on July 25 for a five-year term. He is expected to easily beat his rival, freedom struggle veteran Capt. Lakshmi Sahgal, who is backed only by the Communists and lacks the numbers in a complex electoral college comprising MPs and state legislators.
Sahgal, who has criticized Kalam’s choice saying electing a nuclear scientist as country’s president would send a wrong signal, will file her papers on Friday.
The former scientific adviser to the prime minister arrived here Monday from Madras to a hero’s welcome. Kalam’s candidature has evoked wide interest, not the least due to his scientific background.
The presidential election was called after Vajpayee refused to accept an opposition plea to give incumbent President K.R. Narayanan a second term. Kalam’s name was settled upon after the opposition refused Vajpayee’s first choice, Maharashtra Governor P.C. Alexander.
