NEW DELHI, 24 July 2007 — Dispelling doubts about how he would run the upper house (Rajya Sabha), Mohammed Hamid Ansari — a seasoned diplomat without any parliamentary experience — said yesterday: “Any organization is run on the basis of rules and regulations. Rajya Sabha has excellent rules and regulations.”
Ansari was speaking after filing his nomination papers for the vice presidential poll, scheduled for Aug. 10. Ansari has been selected by the United Progressive Alliance-left combine as their candidate. Accompanied by senior UPA and left leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Ansari filed two sets of nomination papers.
Also present were Sitaram Yechury (Communist Party of India-Marxist), D. Raja (Communist Party of India) and union ministers Sharad Pawar, Lalu Prasad, Ram Vilas Paswan and T.R. Baalu.
When questioned on how he was feeling, Ansari told mediapersons: “It is a great occasion.” Seventy-year-old Ansari, an academician with a leftist bent, is pitted against two experienced politicians in the race for the vice president’s post. They are Najma Heptullah (67), the candidate of the National Democratic Alliance and Rashid Masood (59), a nominee of the newly formed United National Progress Alliance (UNPA).
With all three nominees being Muslims, it is clear that the three combines are keen on fully exploiting their minority card with an eye on securing Muslim votes in the 2009 general elections.
While Masood had filed his papers on Friday, Heptullah filed hers yesterday. Heptullah, grandniece of freedomfighter Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, once considered close to Sonia, ended her three-decade-old association with the Congress in 2004 to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She has served the Rajya Sabha for 27 years, including 17 years as its chairperson. Masood, a senior leader of the Samajwadi Party, has been a five-time member of Parliament from Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh) and a union minister in the V.P. Singh government.
Heptullah was accompanied by BJP leaders Atal Behari Vajpayee, L.K. Advani and Rajnath Singh. Among the NDA leaders present were convener George Fernandes, S.S. Dhindsa (Akali Dal) and B.J. Panda (Biju Janata Dal).
Leaders of Shiv Sena and Trinamool Congress were conspicuous by their absence. When questioned on the two parties’ stand on Heptullah being the NDA nominee for vice presidential elections, senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said: “We will seek the support of Shiv Sena as well as Trinamool Congress.”
Saying that there was a difference between presidential and vice presidential elections, Swaraj said: “In the presidential poll, the UNPA had abstained. But this time it will vote as it has fielded its candidate. Besides, this time there will be second preferential votes, which we will seek.” Acknowledging that numbers were against her, Heptullah said: “This is not a fight. It is an election. Therefore, I have filed my nomination.”
She would ask every member of the electoral college for their support, Heptullah said, asserting: “I feel I am confident enough to handle the job. I have the qualification.” On whether she expected cross- voting in her favor, Heptullah replied that it was not correct to use the expression of cross-voting. She said: “If there is no whip, then it is no cross-voting.”
