No names so far have been given by the BJP or proposed to Sonia Gandhi the Chief of Congress even after meeting her in person.
However, given Modi’s style to spring surprises while naming a person for top positions, even senior BJP leaders including ministers are not able to figure out who that person could be the next President of India. The Congress is asking BJP to come out with a name so that they would react over it .
The names which are appearing in the media — Draupadi Murmu, Sumitra Mahajan, Sushma Swaraj, Thawar Chand Gehlot, E Shreedharan or any such other name — are mere speculation of intelligent minds than informed reporting.
One has to wait for exactly one more week to know who is going to be the next President of India. People say that the PM might come up with the name after 21st. He is busy with the USA trip also.
While the deadline to file nomination papers for a presidential candidate is 28 June, Modi or Shah could announce the name of ruling NDA candidate a week prior to that it is reported.So far the BJP or the Modi government has not deliberated on possible names, at least that’s what was told to Sonia Gandhi by Rajnath and Venkaiah.
It is noteworthy that in 2007, the Congress had sought the support of BJP only after announcing Pratibha Patil as its presidential candidate. In 2012 too, the situation was broadly the same when Congress decided to field Pranab Mukherjee as its presidential candidate.
The Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2002 was successful in building a broad consensus over the surprise name of APJ Abdul Kalam. Barring the Left Front, almost all parties including Congress supported Kalam’s candidature.
