Telangana CM KCR and the present VP Venkaiah are having very good relations. There is a talk that if Venkaiah is announced as the presidential candidate by the BJP, KCR will openly support him.
The buzz is that Vice-President, Venkaiah Naidu is the frontrunner. However, there is also talk that the BJP may not make any changes and could continue with Kovind as the President.
In July, the President of India will be elected by an electoral college formed by 776 parliamentarians and 4,120 legislators. During the last elections, the BJP had sprung a surprise by naming Ram Nath Kovind as the presidential candidate. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu is a frontrunner for the top post but the BJP leadership has yet to take a call on whether incumbent Ram Nath Kovind should be offered a second term.
The BJP government will try and reach a consensus in consultation with its allies, including supporting parties like the YSR Congress and Naveen Patnaik’s BJD.
The Opposition parties have been trying to put up a joint candidate for the presidential polls, but it will be difficult for Congress to take the lead in this exercise after its poor election performance.
Regional parties like Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, MK Stalin’s DMK, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena, and K Chandrasekhar Rao’s Telangana Rashtra Samiti are expected to play a key role in deciding whether to put up a joint opposition candidate.
