After Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar pitched for a second term to Pranab dada. The Congress today indicated that it will support such a move if the President agrees to it.
This evening Congress chief Sonia Gandhi meets West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to discuss fielding a common opposition candidate to take on the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance’s nominee in the presidential election to be held in July.
Nitish Kumar has suggested that the ruling BJP initiate talks with the opposition and build a consensus of all parties to nominate President Mukherjee for a second term.
President Mukherjee, a former Congressman, has reportedly made it clear that he will consider a second term only if the government nominates him.
But the BJP, sources say, is keen on fielding one of its own for President, though no names have emerged yet. Along with its allies and now the avowed support of the YSR Congress of Andhra Pradesh leader Jaganmohan Reddy, the BJP needs just a little more help to ensure its candidate gets the 51 per cent votes needed to become the next President.
In 2002, the Congress wanted a second term for President KR Narayanan, but he had refused to contest after the then BJP-led government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee said it would not nominate him. In 2007, the Congress government at the centre nixed a second term for APJ Abdul Kalam, because it wanted someone more political.
