Hyderabad: Though West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had a partial success in working out a consensus on the common opposition candidate for the upcoming Presidential polls where 17 representatives from the invited 22 political parties were present yet a unanimity on a single opposition candidate seems to be a distant dream.
On Wednesday Mamata had said that all the political parties present in the meeting wanted Sharad Pawar to contest the polls but the reluctance of the NCP chief has put the opposition unity in jeopardy. Mamata herself after the meeting said, “though we wanted Pawar to become the face of the opposition but he is not interested and so in this present situation we have asked the political parties to send their names so that we can discuss it in the next meeting.”
Sources present in the meeting said that they are presently toying with the candidature of former West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi and former CM of Jammu & Kashmir Farooq Abdullah but opposition consensus on these two candidates seems unlikely. JDS has already floated the name of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda as a Presidential candidate.
Sources in the party indicated that Deve Gowda who along with his son had attended the meeting convened by Mamata Banerjee shares a very good relation with the other political parties and can be an ideal candidate for the Presidential polls. Former chief minister of Karnataka Kumaraswamy was also present at the meeting.
Also read: Opposition to put up joint candidate for Presidential polls; Sharad Pawar declines offer
If Deve Gowda becomes the candidate, then Congress might support his candidature but the participation of Congress in the meeting has turned the opposition unity in jeopardy. Surprisingly Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao - who had always bonded with his Bengal counterpart over their common goal of defeating the BJP decided to boycott it.
Sources in TRS said there was "no question of sharing any platform with the Congress". Interestingly enough recently KCR visited Bangalore and had a long discussion with both the JDS leaders. Speculations were rife that the leaders spoke on the issue of Presidential polls. There was also a speculation that the southern regional party leaders meeting might be an indication to create a strong Third Front — an alternative to the Congress and the BJP.
Besides TRS, AAP, Akali Dal BJD, SAD, YSRCP and Sikkim Democratic Front did not attend the Wednesday meeting convened by Mamata. Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM was not invited. "I was not invited. Even if I were invited, I would not have participated. The reason is Congress. The TMC party which speaks ill about us, even if they had invited us, we would not have gone just because they invited the Congress," Owaisi had said.
The Akali Dal and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also opted out, protesting the Congress' presence. AAP said it will "consider the matter only after the Presidential candidate is declared." These parties appear to be playing their cards close to the chest and make their move once the candidates are finalised by the ruling dispensation.
Earlier, on the Presidential candidacy, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar had said that "Sorry, who is saying what, I do not know about it. I have no desire to be president.. The name will be known after a few days.” Nitish has been springing surprises with his decisions. In 2012, Nitish was with the National Democratic Alliance but had voted in favour of Pranab Mukherjee and in 2017, when he was with the Grand Alliance, he voted in favour of Ramnath Kovind- the NDA candidate.
Senior Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Binod Pandey said the party will subscribe to the united Opposition's decision to field a candidate who is to be chosen unanimously. Echoing Pandey's views, Jharkhand RJD spokesperson Manoj Kumar said: "Once the Opposition decides on the candidate, our leaders Lalu Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav will take the final call on the support." (With inputs from Bihar, Jharkhand, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Odisha)
